DE PASQUALE TAKES POLE IN DRAMATIC PERTH QUALIFYING

Anton De Pasquale has continued Dick Johnson Racing’s great run of qualifying form, taking pole position for tonight’s opening Supercars Championship encounter in Perth.

De Pasquale will start from first on the grid alongside fellow Ford Mustang driver Cameron Waters who was 0.108s off the pace.

Throughout the session there were many shocks and surprises, both Walkinshaw Andretti United drivers were knocked out in Q1 and Will Davison was eliminated in Q2.

Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen was fastest in sector 1, but was unable to match the Mustangs in the final couple of turns and will start third.

He will be relieved with third as he only just snuck into the third segment.

Erebus Motorsport driver and West Aussie Brodie Kostecki was just 0.009s slower than his fellow Holden driver and will start fourth.

David Reynolds kept up his great run of form qualifying in fifth ahead of James Courtney, Andre Heimgartner, Broc Feeney, Thomas Randle and Will Brown.

Qualifying 2 saw incredible improvements when drivers went out for their second run, Shane van Gisbergen was top and was the only driver who elected not to go out in the final moments of the session and it nearly caught him out, SVG snuck through by just 0.014s.

The Matt Stone Racing cars have both been in the top five all day, however in Q2 failed to make the top 10, Todd Hazelwood qualified in 11^th, while Jack le Brocq ended up in 14^th.

Will Davison was the surprise elimination of Q2, he attempted to make it through on old tyres, however a lock up on his first run into Turn 1 cost him dearly.

He was unable to improve on his second lap and will start tonight’s race from 12^th, ahead of Tim Slade.

Scott Pye was only 0.219s slower than the fastest man in Q2 Andre Heimgartner, however he will line-up in 15^th alongside his Team 18 teammate Mark Winterbottom.

Garry Jacobson, Jake Kostecki, Macauley Jones and Chris Pither rounded out the top 20.

The other two casualties of the opening session were Jack Smith who qualified in 21^st and Bryce Fullwood in 22^nd place.

The big shock from qualifying 1 was the Walkinshaw Andretti United who were both eliminated from Q1 on outright pace.

Chaz Mostert will start the race from 23^rd position, while his teammate Nick Percat was a further 0.2s slower and will line up from the back of the grid in 25^th.

Mostert’s Bathurst 1000 winning teammate Lee Holdsworth split the pair in 24^th, position.

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