Will Brown has a golden chance to buttress his lead in the Supercars standings after nearest rival Chaz Mostert bombed out in qualifying for the second race in Tasmania.
Mostert, who has cut the gap at the top from 274 to 63 points in the last five races, missed out on the third portion of qualifying on Sunday by three hundredths of a second.
It means he will start race 18 from 11th on the grid.
The Walkinshaw Andretti United man lamented “gamesmanship” from other drivers, which caused him to get stuck in traffic.
Brown capitalised, notching the fourth-fastest time at Symmons Plains Raceway.
It’s the first time in six races the Triple Eight speedster has qualified in the top five.
But the session belonged to Tickford Racing duo Thomas Randle and Cam Waters, who got their second front-row lockout in two rounds.
After crashing out of qualifying and starting Saturday’s race from 16th, Randle will chase his maiden race win from pole position after pipping his teammate by four hundredths of a second.
“It’s such an awesome reward and I feel like it’s a bit of redemption after yesterday’s result,” the 28-year-old beamed.
Randle and Waters were the only two Mustang drivers in a Camaro-heavy top 10.
Team 18’s David Reynolds will sit alongside Brown in the second row after being third-fastest, while Brown’s teammate Broc Feeney will start from seventh.
Meanwhile, Nick Percat has gone from hero to zero, bombing out of qualifying in last place one day after securing his second race win of the season.
The Matt Stone Racing man will start the final race of the Tasmania Supersprint from last place on the grid after his team thought his first run was enough to make it through.
“Very, very annoying,” Percat said.
“We just ran some used tyres and hoped to sneak through on that.”
Team 18 veteran Mark Winterbottom will start a record 600th consecutive Supercars race from 23rd.
The final 55-lap race of the weekend kicks off at 3.05pm local time.
Tasmania SuperSprint Qualifying Results:
1. Thomas Randle (Tickford Racing) 50.662
2. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing) +0.044
3. David Reynolds (Team 18) +0.049
4. Will Brown (Triple Eight Race Engineering) +0.073
5. Jack Le Brocq (Erebus Motorsport) +0.093