Will Brown has upped the pressure on teammate and Supercars championship leader Brodie Kostecki, with his third pole position of the year and fourth career P1 start after leading Saturday's top-10 shootout.
Brown was the third from last car to have a solo crack at a sun-kissed Reid Park circuit, and his 1:13.945 lap was enough to pip David Reynolds and provisional pole sitter Cam Waters for pole ahead of the season's race 16 on Saturday.
Only six hundredths of a second separated the top three in a closely-fought shootout.
Brown trails Kostecki by 59 points on the championship standings, and can leap-frog his teammate should the 25-year-old convert his pole to a win and Kostecki finish no higher than 8th.
The Erebus drivers have won five races this year with Brown claiming three wins and Kostecki two.
Kostecki missed Saturday's shootout and will start 15th on the grid in the first of two 250km races in Townsville.
The front two rows are an even split of Fords and Chevrolets, with two-time reigning Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen qualifying fourth fastest and teammate Broc Feeney sixth.
Jack Le Brocq continued his fine form after a win in Darwin recently to qualify fifth.
Saturday's 88-lap race begins at 2.40pm (AEST).
RACE 16 QUALIFYING:
1. Will Brown (Erebus Motorsport) 1:13.945
2. David Reynolds (Penrite Racing) +0.050
3. Cam Waters (Monster Energy Racing) +0.062
4. Shane van Gisbergen (Red Bull Ampol Racing) +0.137
5. Jack Le Brocq (Truck Assist Racing) +0.196.
