Waters stays on top, Feeney misses out

Cameron Waters remains the one-lap king of Sydney in a tense qualifying where some big names missed the Top 10 Shootout.

Waters’ 1:29.8144 was a meagre 0.0090s clear of Tim Slade and Nick Percat in a 15-minute qualifying where the top 10 positions were not secure until the final seconds.

The likes of Will Davison, Chaz Mostert, Will Brown, James Golding, Ryan Wood and David Reynolds all snuck in to snatch tickets to the one-lap dash.

Matt Payne was forced to regret consecutive kerb strikes on his final two laps and missed out on the Shootout by a whisker.

Other big names that will start outside the top 10 are Brodie Kostecki (11th) Broc Feeney (16th) and Thomas Randle (18th).

All 25 drivers went out instantly but not all pressed on to set an early lap with many getting an installation lap in on used tyres.

Davison was the first to set a time with a 1:30.6538, which Winterbottom came within half a tenth of.

But a bunch of Camaros were able to beat it with Fullwood going to the top with a 1:30.0753, just 0.07s clear of BJR teammate Heimgartner.

But Wood was flying and set two purple sectors to go two tenths clear.

Feeney had a fast start to his opening flyer but lost time in the second split and was two tenths short.

When the Tickford drivers showed their hand the benchmark continued to stop with Waters displacing Wood by just 0.0129s, while Payne and Randle pushed themselves into the top four.

Mostert was on track to join them, setting a fastest second sector, but backed out much to the dismay of his engineer.

Instead De Pasquale shot to P1 with a 1:30.1453 that was just 0.0091s clear of Waters, while the top six that also included both MSR Camaros were covered by less than a tenth.

But those gaps grew when Davison put the foot down, being the first in the 1m29s window.

With three minutes to go Mostert unleashed on his first full flying lap sitting stone dead last, but rose under pressure to go to P1.

He was instantly knocked off by Waters, who went a tenth clear, while Slade produced an impressive lap to be just 0.0090s.

Payne sat eighth but found himself in trouble with kerb strikes on consecutive laps.

Feeney’s lap was only good enough for 13th as Kostecki had a nervous wait sitting 10th and on the bubble.

It was not enough with Percat showing strong late pace with a PB lap pushing him to third, while Reynolds snuck into the Shootout by 0.01s and knocked out Payne.

The chase for pole will be decided by the Top 10 Shootout at 13.40 AEST.

Image: Peter Norton Epic Sports Photography

Supercars Sydney Race 16 Qualifying results

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