McLaughin takes provisional pole for Bathurst

Scott McLaughlin set the fastest-ever Supercar lap at Bathurst on his way to securing provisional pole position for this weekend's Bathurst 1000.

The Shell V-Power Racing Ford youngster lapped the mountain in 2m04.1470s in Friday's session, which determines the 10 drivers that will progress to tomorrow's Shootout for pole.

McLaughlin's time was 0.8s faster than the previous unofficial lap record set by six-time series champion and four-time Bathurst winner Jamie Whincup, who, along with Tripe Eight teammate Craig Lowndes (himself a five-time champion and six-time Bathurst winner), failed to make the Shootout for the first time in recent history. Whincup will start Sunday's race from 11th, while Lowndes will line up 19th.

"I have a lot of confidence in the car," McLaughlin said. "At that speed there's a lot going on and you are holding on for dear life. It's nice to be able to do three consistent laps in a row and be comfortable each time with that.

"We made a few tweaks with each stop and each time we made it better. The stop between practice and qualifying we made our car a little bit worse so we will work on that."

The session was red-flagged with 15 seconds remaining when James Moffatt crashes his GRM car at the top of the mountain. David Reynolds was in the final yards of his flying lap at the time, and just managed to cross the line ahead of the red to secure second-fastest.

"I might have got lucky there," said Reynolds, who was the sole Holden representative in a top six otherwise dominated by Ford.

Moffatt, meanwhile, was stripped of his best time for causing the red, plunging him from a Shootout berth in ninth all the way back to 22nd. His misfortune played into the hands of teammate Garth Tander, who was promoted into the Shootout as a result.

Elsewhere, all four Nissans missed the top 10, with Rick Kelly the best of the bunch in P12, while Simona de Silvestro will start from 23rd.

Last year's winner Will Davison will start in 16th after touching the wall through Sulman Park and spending the final minutes of the session in the garage.