Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen led home a team 1-2 as he and Jamie Whincup dominated the opening race of the Sydney Supernight.
Again, Erebus Motorsport’s Will Brown had a slow pit stop after taking his maiden pole position earlier in the evening and form man Anton De Pasquale struck troubles in qualifying.
Shell V-Power Racing’s De Pasquale started off this weekend as he did the last, in front.
Practice 1 was led by the Ford Mustang driver as another driver to impress last weekend followed in the form of Will Brown in his Erebus Motorsport Holden ZB Commodore.
After a mixed season to date, Jack Le Brocq demonstrated a slight change of form by placing his Tickford Racing Mustang in third ahead of Brown’s teammate Brodie Kostecki and Team Blanchard Racing’s Tim Slade.
Championship leader van Gisbergen was 15th, while Le Brocq’s teammate Cam Waters was 10th behind old sparring partner Chaz Mostert in the Walkinshaw Andretti United ZB Commodore.
De Pasquale continued this form in Practice 2 as he led home four ZB Commodores in a row. Van Gisbergen, Kostecki, Nick Percat and Brown filled the top five.
The form guide changed in Qualifying though as a transaxle failure for De Pasquale forced him into the pits without setting a lap time.
Mostert also had a transaxle failure and joined De Pasquale at the back.
It was Brown taking full advantage to secure his first pole position with a time of 1m 29.039s to lead Red Bull Ampol Racing pair Whincup and van Gisbergen, while Davison led home Kostecki, who made it two Erebus Motorsport entries in the top five.
Percat, Slade, Le Brocq, Todd Hazelwood and Waters completed the top 10.
After the elation of pole, it was a swift shift as another slow pit stop cruelled Brown’s race as he recovered to finish 11th. If that wasn’t enough for Erebus Motorsport, teammate Brodie Kostecki broke the pit lane speed limit and was forced to serve a penalty, dropping him to the back of the field.
This allowed van Gisbergen and Whincup to lead the majority of the race, with the Kiwi dominating after passing the seven-time champion mid-race.
Davison and Percat battled for third, but the Shell V-Power Racing Mustang held on, while Hazelwood charged to fifth ahead of Le Brocq.
Rounding out the 10 were Slade, Waters, Scott Pye and Bryce Fullwood.
Tomorrow’s Repco Supercars Championship action begins at 2:30pm AEDT for Race 24 Qualifying.