Davison clinches pole in historic Sydney Shootout

Will Davison has beaten Chaz Mostert to Boost Mobile Pole in a thrilling Top Ten Shootout, with the two Ford drivers breaking new ground at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Davison beat Mostert to pole position by just 0.0007s, which is now the closest ever Supercars pole-winning margin at the Eastern Creek venue.

The 0.0007s usurped the 0.0062s margin between Glenn Seton and Greg Murphy, set way back in 1997.

Davison became the eighth different driver to claim a pole position in 2024, with the two-time Bathurst winner returning to the top for the first time since Pukekohe 2022.

Provisional pole-sitter Cam Waters was only fourth, albeit 0.1193s behind Davison, with Nick Percat an impressive third for Matt Stone Racing.

Anton De Pasquale was fifth ahead of championship leader Will Brown, with Tim Slade, James Golding, Ryan Wood and David Reynolds rounding out the top 10.

"They're all tight margins these days, but really proud of that one," said Davison, who finished fourth in Saturday night's race.

"I just haven't been nailing my Shootout laps. Obviously wanted to be quick then, but just wanted to get the most out of myself, like I felt I did in qualifying.

"So, I was proud of that effort. The car came in beautiful, so I've really got to thank Rich [Harris, Race Engineer] and thank all the team. It's been a big turnaround from Friday for us.

"Haven't had a pole since '22, my first in Gen3. I won't lie, it feels really good. The timing's really, really good for me."

Reynolds opened proceedings with a 1:30.6103s, which was nearly 0.5s down on his qualifying time. Wood went faster in the first sector, and despite falling away in the final two sectors, jumped ahead of Reynolds, albeit by just 0.0118s.

Golding was marginally behind to the first sector, and after matching Wood in the second, claimed top spot by 0.0097s with a 1:30.5888s.

The championship leader then fired in the best first and third sectors to put 0.2543s on his rivals with a 1:30.3355s, before De Pasquale went even faster with a 1:30.1689s.

Mostert, who left his qualifying efforts late earlier in the day, laid down a 1:29.9194s to fire a warning shot at the final four runners in the Shootout. Mostert went fastest in all three sectors, gapping De Pasquale by 0.2495s.

However, the track continued to improve — Davison was marginally down in the first sector, before turning up the wick in the final two sectors to put down a 1:29.9187s and immediately dethrone Mostert.

Percat went even faster in the first sector, and was right with Davison. However, the Matt Stone Racing driver lost time in the final sector, and slotted in behind both Fords.

Slade could only record a 1:30.5104s, which was sixth best, leaving Waters standing in the way of Davison’s first pole in Sydney, and first since September 2022.

Waters put together a competitive first sector and went purple in the second, but lost time in the final run to the line to gift pole to Davison, and a front row to Mostert.

The Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight will conclude with the 51-lap, 200km Race 16 at 4:05pm AEST.