Waters beats title contenders to crucial Gold Coast pole

An action-packed Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout has been topped by Cam Waters, who will share the front row for Saturday's race with Richie Stanaway.

The Tickford Racing driver blazed to his sixth Boost Mobile Pole Position of the season, putting Waters in the box seat to claim a second victory at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.

Remarkably, Waters set his time despite grazing the exit concrete wall at Turn 11, where championship leader Will Brown was caught out in qualifying earlier in the day.

With Brown starting 11th, the championship could take a dramatic turn on Saturday afternoon, with Chaz Mostert and Broc Feeney lining up on the second row.

Heading into Race 21, Brown leads Feeney and Mostert by 204 and 225 points respectively, with Waters hanging on, 465 points back.

"You've got to put it all on the line, you've got to rub against the walls and have a dip and tearing paint and stickers off the side of the car to be fast around here," Waters said.

"These Shootouts are extra hard because you don't know the track conditions and grip level, so you're kind of just winging it a little bit.

"I'm super pumped to get the pole, six-and-a-half gorillas, I'm pretty happy with that, I wish they were all like that, but we'll take it."

In an action-packed Shootout, Brodie Kostecki lost his time due to a kerb strike, with Matt Payne losing it altogether in a costly mistake at Turn 11.

First-man out Kostecki set the fastest first sector of the first three drivers, but a kerb strike at Turn 8 in the beach chicane proved costly for the Bathurst winner.

2015 Gold Coast winner James Courtney recorded a 1:11.9326s, which proved too good for David Reynolds in his brand-new TRADIE Beer Camaro, albeit by 0.0268s.

On four roaded tyres, James Golding went nearly 0.3s clear with a 1:11.6441s. In response, Payne was fitted with two roaded front tyres, but despite going quickest in the first sector, fired down the Turn 11 escape road and threw away his lap.

Feeney improved the Sector 1 benchmark and closed out the lap with a dominant final sector, dropping down a 1:11.2944s to give the final four Ford drivers a difficult time to chase.

Randle was just 0.06s down through the first sector, and clawed time back in the mid-sector. However, Feeney's end to the lap still proved a step too far for the Friday fast man, who ended up 0.1s down all told.

Waters threw his Monster Mustang through the first chicane and pressed on around the back of the lap, firing in a 1:11.0581s to put 0.236s on Feeney.

Mostert left nothing on the table and lowered the best time in the first sector, but overcommitment through the beach chicane and contact exiting the final corner left the two-time Gold Coast winner 0.2s down.

It left Stanaway standing in Waters' way, and the Kiwi fell just 0.117s short to help Waters to a second pole position at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit.

Race 21 of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship will commence this afternoon at 3:15pm local time/4:15pm AEDT.