Feeney beats Waters to pole, Brown caught out by red flag

The championship picture has swung again in Tasmania, with Broc Feeney beating Cam Waters to Race 17 pole after championship leader Will Brown was caught out by a red flag.

Feeney and Waters will launch off the front row for Saturday's NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint opener, with Chaz Mostert fifth behind Brodie Kostecki and Nick Percat.

Brown, meanwhile, will start 15th after a wild spin for Thomas Randle triggered a stoppage, tripping several drivers up.

Feeney, who is 153 points behind his Triple Eight teammate, now has a golden chance to get back into the title fight, with Waters and Mostert also chasing down leader Brown.

“We've had a fast car today. We were a little bit off yesterday, so to be quick in the wet and convert that to a pole, I'm pretty pumped,” said Feeney, who claimed his fourth pole of the season.

“Over the whole session I felt really strong, especially under brakes. I had a couple of little mistakes on that lap, I didn't really know if it was going to be enough.

“It was a shame to see what happened to Will, he got caught out by the red flag. I've got to capitalise on these days, I'll see what we can do this afternoon.”

Brown added: “Yeah it’s a bit disappointing, we were trending really well but that happens, red flags you know,.

“Didn’t get a lap in there at the end, we would’ve been in the top ten but that’s life, so we just have to do a good job this arvo and bank some points.”

Q1

Just 90 minutes after tackling driving rain in Practice 2, drivers were greeted by sunshine and 50km/h gusts for the start of qualifying. However, there was standing water at some parts, headlined by a waterfall across Turn 2 that caught Tim Slade out, with the PremiAir Camaro surfing through the gravel.

Slade would, however, emerge quickest of all in Q1 to the tune of 0.1867s over Percat, with Brown, Feeney and Mostert rounding out the top 10.

The biggest casualties were Matt Payne and Will Davison, who will line up 23rd and 24th behind Jack Le Brocq and Macauley Jones.

Jones missed out on a Q2 berth by just 0.0244s to Aaron Love, who survived a scary spin in the morning session.

Q2

Drivers were straight into the 51-second barrier to begin Q2, with David Reynolds, Broc Feeney, Brown, Randle and Waters the early top five.

Mostert set a 51.6625s, but was down to 10th by the time he came into the lane. That quickly became 13th as Bryce Fullwood and Mark Winterbottom jumped up, with Kostecki on the bubble in 10th. Richie Stanaway, who topped Practice 2, was 19th.

Gusts remained up to 40km/h as drivers returned to the track, and Percat (51.2210s) and Mostert (51.0695s) quickly got their laps in. Brown had fallen to 16th by the time Randle rotated over the crest at Turn 1, with the Castrol Ford nudging the wall.

The incident had significant repercussions through the field, none greater than Brown, who will ironically line up alongside Randle on the eighth row. Randle was 15th, but lost his fastest lap for causing the red flag.

It created a top 10 of Feeney, Slade, Waters, Ryan Wood, Mostert, James Golding, Cameron Hill, Kostecki, Anton De Pasquale and Percat, with Reynolds 11th and Stanaway 17th.

Q3

Percat opened proceedings with a 51.3240s ahead of Mostert (51.3713s) and Waters (51.3950s), before the MSR driver improved to a 51.1426s ahead of Feeney 51.1811s.

Only Percat, Feeney, Mostert, Waters, Hill and Wood had set a representative time before the final runs, with Slade, Golding, Kostecki and De Pasquale yet to fire a shot.

Percat marched on and recorded a 51.1239s, with Mostert remaining third with a 51.2157s. Kostecki (51.0757s) and Feeney (50.9884s) soared to the top, before Waters threatened to claim a fourth pole. However, the Tickford Racing star fell short by 0.0820s, with Kostecki 0.0873s from pole.

Hill, Wood, De Pasquale, Slade and Golding rounded out the top 10.

Supercars will return to the track on Saturday for the first 55-lap race of the weekend, Race 17, at 4:10pm AEST.

The race will be broadcast live in Australia on Fox Sports and Kayo, while international viewers can follow all action on Superview. Tickets for the event are on sale now.