Waters edges Davison in qualifying, Brown's struggles continue

Cam Waters has continued his fine form in Townsville in Boost Mobile Qualifying, with Will Brown again failing to reach the Top Ten Shootout.

Waters, who won Saturday’s NTI Townsville 500 opener from pole position, beat Will Davison to provisional Race 14 pole by just 0.0507s.

However, the biggest story was the plight of championship leader Brown, who after qualifying 13th on Saturday, ended up down in 17th.

The Triple Eight managed to claim a podium finish on Saturday, but faces another mountain to climb on Sunday as he hopes to preserve his championship lead.

Teammate Broc Feeney was only ninth, with Chaz Mostert sixth behind Waters, Davison, Thomas Randle, Jack Le Brocq and Anton De Pasquale.

Brodie Kostecki, Matt Payne and James Courtney rounded out the top 10, with Andre Heimgartner missing a Shootout berth by just 0.0217s.

"I guess we rolled out pretty good and we learned a fair bit in practice," Waters said.

"We're chasing a little bit of balance, but we're keeping the changes pretty minimal. The car's in a nice little window at the moment so you don't want to change it too much and push it out.

"I might watch a little bit of vision [from yesterday], I'll just try and do the same thing I did yesterday and put together a nice clean lap.

"I know the car is there, I've just got to put it all together and we'll be in it for another shot."

Brown and Feeney pitted straight after the session began, with Ryan Wood opening proceedings with a 1:14.0309s.

However, Tickford showed no signs of slowing down, Waters clocking a 1:13.6721s before Randle went to the top with a 1:13.6354s.

De Pasquale moved to third with a 1:13.9944s, with Kostecki jumping to second with a 1:13.6453s ahead of Payne and Nick Percat.

Le Brocq continued Erebus Motorsport's solid form with a 1:13.5500s to go to the top, with Feeney jumping to fifth with a 1:13.7806s.

Heimgartner moved from 18th to sixth with a 1:13.7799 with five minutes to go; by that stage, Brown was only 13th, with Mostert 15th, with Le Brocq, Randle, Kostecki, Waters, De Pasquale, Heimgartner, Feeney, Percat, Payne and Davison the provisional 10.

Mostert began his charge, first jumping to sixth with a 1:13.7621s, before improving to second with a 1:13.5785s. Waters pressed on and recorded a 1:13.4071s, which proved the benchmark despite Randle (1:13.4742s) and Davison (1:13.4578s) improving.

The biggest loser, however, was Brown, who couldn't improve and qualified 17th, his worst result of the season.

Supercars action will resume on Sunday with the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 12:05pm AEST, followed by the second 88-lap, 250km race at 2:40pm.