Young gun Will Brown has secured the first pole position of his budding Supercars career after pipping Red Bull's superstar duo ahead of race 23 at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Brown clocked one minute, 29.03 seconds to pip Jamie Whincup and relegate Shane van Gisbergen to third fastest, handing Erebus Motorsport their first pole in more than two years.
"It's bloody awesome. The guys have done a fantastic job and just pumped," 23-year-old rookie Brown told Fox Sports.
"It's awesome with the team, I've got them a bit of beer money so they'll be happy, so we'll see how we go."
Brown is now the first rookie pole-sitter since Chris Pither in 2016.
The Toowoomba-born Holden youngster had recently secured his first ever podium finish, coming second to Ford's Anton De Pasquale in race 22.
Brown said he hoped to go one better in race 23 which starts at 7.45pm (AEDT) on Saturday.
"I'll be going for that win. So we'll be having a big crack in the race and see where we end up," he said.
There was drama early in qualifying when Shell V-Power's De Pasquale failed to start due to a gearbox issue.
De Pasquale, who won two of last weekend's three races, was the fastest through Saturday's practice sessions but his mechanical issue cost him a shot at his eighth pole of the year.
"My thing was running sweet for last two weeks, haven't had a single miss shift or anything, rolled out, and that's what we got," de Pasquale said.
"So yeah, bit of a weird one. I haven't felt that happen ever so we'll change it, dissect it, worry about that another day but just change it for now and see how we go this arvo."
Supercars race 23 qualifying results:
1. Will Brown (Erebus Motorsport) 1min:29.03sec
2. Jamie Whincup (Red Bull Ampol Racing) + 0.0285sec
3. Shane van Gisbergen (Red Bull Ampol Racing) + 0.0702sec
4. Will Davison (Shell V-Power Racing) +0.0913sec
5. Brodie Kostecki (Erebus Boost Mobile Racing) + 0.1269sec
Supercars championship standings:
1. Shane van Gisbergen (Red Bull Ampol Racing) 2198 points
2. Jamie Whincup (Red Bull Ampol Racing) 1860pts
3. Will Davison (Shell V-Power Racing) 1735pts
4. Chaz Mostert (Mobil 1 Appliances Online Racing) 1702pts
5. Cameron Waters (Monster Energy Racing) 1670pts
