Waters fastest in Sydney, Brown sneaks into Shootout

Cam Waters has beaten Broc Feeney to provisional Race 15 pole in Sydney, with championship leader Will Brown nearly missing out on a Shootout berth.

The margin between Waters and Feeney was 0.1588s after 15 minutes of Boost Mobile Qualifying, with Chaz Mostert 0.1907s down in third.

Nick Percat, Thomas Randle, Will Davison, Matt Payne, Brown, Anton De Pasquale and David Reynolds rounded out the top 10.

Brown had it all to do on his final lap, but managed to record a 1:30.3720s to seal passage into the Shootout by 0.0881s. Brodie Kostecki's problems continued, however, with the reigning champion only 18th.

"Looked fast and was fast, probably one of the better cars I've had around here for sure," said Waters, who has never won in Sydney, and clocked the only 1:29s lap of the session.

"Just the wind, it's crazy at the moment. Such a strong headwind into Turn 1. Just changing your markers through the lap, accordingly with the wind.

"It was probably the trickiest thing with my first set of tyres, I thought I did a pretty good job that last set of tyres, maximising what I had. The car was really hooked up."

Waters (1:30.4538s) and Randle (1:30.4773s) quickly formed a Tickford one-two as drivers rolled out, with Andre Heimgartner, Tim Slade and Davison joining them in the 1:30s bracket.

Feeney jumped to the top with a 1:30.3324s, before Payne threw down a 1:30.2963s to hold provisional pole after the first runs.

Reynolds, Waters, Randle, Mostert, Mark Winterbottom, Cameron Hill, Heimgartner and Percat rounded out the top 10, with Brown only 21st with four minutes remaining in the session.

Friday fast man Ryan Wood was 19th, 0.9258s off the pace, with Brown only running as high as 17th with his 1:31.6914s, which was 0.9824s behind Payne’s early benchmark. Kostecki, meanwhile, was only 20th after his opening run.

The field returned for the second runs, with Payne copping a track limits violation at Turn 5. Feeney went fastest in the first sector, with Waters quickest in the mid-sector.

Waters (1:29.8422s), Mostert (1:30.0329s) and Randle (1:30.2777s) moved up before Feeney jumped to second with a 1:30.0010s.

Under pressure, Brown set a personal best first sector, and despite falling away in the final two sectors, recorded a 1:30.3720s to sneak into the Shootout by 0.0881s.

Wildcard Lochie Dalton was 23rd ahead of Blanchard Racing Team duo James Courtney and Aaron Love, who had a scare at the final corner during the session.

The top 10 drivers from qualifying will return for the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 4:55pm AEST, which will set the grid for Race 15 at 7:35pm.