Golding pushes PremiAir to dream pole

James Golding has nailed a pressure-packed Top 10 Shootout to give PremiAir Racing a special maiden Supercars pole in Darwin.

After topping Friday qualifying, Golding came into the one-lap dash as the man to beat and rose to the occasion.

Broc Feeney’s “wild lap” set the benchmark of a 1:06.3091 and the PremiAir youngster snuck ahead of the Triple Eight star by 0.0789s.

It sparked wild celebrations for PremiAir as it scored its first pole position in its 72nd race.

Ominously just like Saturday last year Mark Winterbottom will start from third and chase another win with Nick Percat joining him on the second row.

To add to the pressure of nailing the one-lap shootout, drivers had to skate their cars amid slippery track conditions and a thrilling session occurred, producing an unforgettable result. 

P10: Andre Heimgartner 1:06.7674

Heimgartner was first out on the slippery track under the sunny skies and produced a clean lap with minimal wheel work.

The only hiccup was slightly losing the rear leaving Turn 1, but the rest of the lap was fine.

The Kiwi straight away realised how slippery the Hidden Valley Raceway was.

“Pretty slippery out here, even on the warmup lap I was ‘shit, this is pretty slippery’,” Heimgartner said.

“I don’t think it was too bad. It will probably not be fast enough.”

P8: Cameron Waters 1:06.6777

Waters sent it into Turn 1 and after the Monster Mustang slid through Turn 1 he was a tenth up at the first split.

Despite a hint of understeer in the final corner, Waters carried on his momentum to edge ahead of Heimgartner by 0.0897s.

Waters thought he was going off at Turn 1.

“I tried to get it down the gearbox as quick as I could, the engine was not happy with the revs but I pulled it up. Bit of a scruffy lap,” he said.

P9: Tim Slade 1:06.6779

Slade hugged the kerb at the Turn 6 hairpin after regathering the rear from the previous right hander.

Slade was the best part of half a tenth away from Waters, but gained ground in the final sector to create a near deadbeat.

Slade ultimately fell heartbreakingly short by just 0.0002s.

“We had the same number on the dash, but obviously a little bit slower than Cam. Not too bad,” was the PremiAir driver’s reaction.

P7: David Reynolds 1:06.6529

Reynolds wrestled his Camaro well through turn 1, but was still a tenth down at the first split and dropped the rear into the dirt at Turn 5.

Bounced back brilliantly with a purple second sector, which propelled him to the top, 0.0248s ahead of Waters.

Despite setting the fastest lap to that point of the session, Reynolds was not a fan of the track conditions.

“The track is pretty bad so it is hard to get a read. It is shit and very hard to judge,” he said.

P5: Anton De Pasquale 1:06.5503

De Pasquale threw it into the hairpin and ran slightly wide at turn 1 and battled understeer but still came out the other side

Lost the rear again at turn 5 and put the left rear into the dirt. He ran even wider at the final corner and caught so much dirt, the #11 Mustang got crossed up coming onto the main straight.

It was a little bit too wild for my liking and cost us a little bit of time. I was hanging it out there trying to do a good one

P6: Will Brown 1:06.6033

Brown was the deepest into the hairpin and just kept it on the black stuff, but it proved to be very costly.

He was one and a half tenths down at the first split, but gained some time through the valley.

A clean exit from the final corner ended up not quite being enough to knock off De Pasquale and was 0.0530s short.

“I just stuffed it at turn 1 and lost about two and half tenths,” Brown said.

“Still P2 and not too bad but I think a lot of guys will go faster than me.”

P2: Broc Feeney 1:06.3091

Feeney pushed too hard exiting the first turn and got a chuck off the dirt, but proved to be a master stroke as it did not stop him from beating De Pasquale at the first sector

He went even faster with a brilliant second sector and a clean entry onto the straight saw the #88 fly to provisional pole by a huge 0.241s.

Feeney was stunned.

“I can not believe that, far out,” he said.

“I locked the front into 1 and ran off. 

“I just kept going faster and it was one wild lap.

“I have no idea how I stayed on the track.”

P3: Mark Winterbottom 1:06.3621

Winterbottom used all of the exit kerb at turn 1 and went purple at the opening split

Utilised a narrow line in the hairpin and there was just half a tenth in it at the midway point.

“Frosty” could not quite make up the deficit in the final sector 

“The hairpin has been my best corner and I made a meal of it,” Winterbottom said.

“It is so different and slippery. You got to push a little bit harder than you want but we are on the front two rows so all good.”

P4: Nick Percat 1:06.4595

Percat had a strong first sector being just 0.010s away from Feeney and produced a clean lap.

Ended up a tenth and a half short, but it was still good enough for a strong third at the time.

“After seeing everyone going wild I probably pulled it back a bit too much and lost a little bit of tyre in the car,” Percat said.

P1: James Golding 1:06.2302

Being the one to beat Golding nailed turn 1 and was 0.070s up a the first split on Feeney.

He carried on his momentum through the valley to maintain a 0.068s advantage at the end of the second sector.

Golding rode the kerb at 10 and he pushed all the way to the line to push PremiAir to a dream pole.

“Just unbelievable,” Golding said.

“All goes down to the hard work from the team.

“It is just the beginning so lookout.”