Broc Feeney has given himself a golden opportunity to end his wait for an elusive Gold Coast 500 victory after snagging pole position for the opening race at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit.
The Triple Eight Race Engineering star was the second-to-last driver in the top-10 shootout, and claimed honours by 0.125 seconds before the 250km, 85-lap race on Saturday.
Gold Coast local Feeney is looking for a first victory in his home town after coming agonisingly close last year, finishing second in both races.
On Saturday, he expertly navigated the notorious chicanes to claim his fifth pole of the season.
Last year's champion Chaz Mostert will line up beside him after he too produced a blistering lap but smashed into the tyre bundle at turn nine, taking off a chunk of his car in the process.
Provisional pole-sitter Anton De Pasquale was third, while non-finalist Andre Heimgartner will start in fourth.
Championship leader Matt Payne, Tickford Racing's Thomas Randle and Triple Eight's Will Brown came fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
But Brown will start in ninth position after being handed a two-place grid penalty for impeding Matt Stone Racing's Jack Le Brocq in qualifying on Friday.
Cam Waters, Kai Allen and Ryan Wood round out the top 10.
Wood's lap was thrown out after he triggered the kerb.
The Gold Coast 500 is the opening round of the Supercars finals series, where 10 drivers are in with a chance of winning the championship heading into this weekend, but only seven will remain in the running after the chequered flag falls.
Wood is ninth in the standings and wants to win one of the two races to book his ticket to the next round of finals at Sandown in Melbourne.
If he doesn't claim a victory, he will hope to secure enough points because the bottom three in the top 10 who fail to win a race are eliminated.
Bathurst 1000 champion Brodie Kostecki will start in 11th and Le Brocq in 17th after both had a sub-par performance in Friday's qualifying session.
Drivers will return for Race 31 at 3.15pm (local time).
RACE 31 QUALIFYING RESULTS:
1. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering)
2. Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw TWG Racing)
3. Anton De Pasquale (Team 18)
4. Andre Heimgartner (Brad Jones Racing)
5. Matt Payne (Grove Racing)
6. Thomas Randle (Tickford Racing)
7. Will Brown (Triple Eight) - will start ninth because of a penalty
8. Cam Waters (Tickford)
9. Kai Allen (Grove)
10. Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw TWG)
