Scott McLaughlin's hopes of wrapping up the Supercars championship on Sunday are in tatters, after the Kiwi star crashed in qualifying and was ruled out of the Gold Coast 600's final race.
The 20-minute session ended under a red flag, after McLaughlin's Mustang hit the inside kerb at 140km/h at the tough concrete wall-lined street circuit and ended up on its side on turn four.
Remarkably, Shane van Gisbergen - McLaughlin's main rival for the Supercars title - stopped his Holden and raced over to help the Ford star out of his badly damaged vehicle.
McLaughlin was second fastest for the top-10 shootout, but his weekend was over, after his Ford outfit declared his Mustang a write-off, when it arrived in the team garage.
McLaughlin was monitored at the track's medical centre, where he underwent a
concussion test, but was given a clean bill of health.
He had hoped to wrap up back-to-back championships on Sunday, but his withdrawal
threw the title door open for van Gisbergen.
"My heart is hurting, but that's it," McLaughlin said. "I am just terribly sorry for everyone at the team.
"We were practising for the shootout and I just clipped the concrete wall - I had not done it all week.
"It [crash] was a big one, it surprised me. By the time I was on my side, I was like 'geez', it all happened real quick.
"I will give myself a clip over the ear. I am terribly sorry, but I want to thank Shane for pulling up and seeing if I was alright."
Van Gisbergen whittled away at the series deficit, when he finished second behind Jamie Whincup, with McLaughlin third in Saturday's 300km race.
He cut McLaughlin's series lead from 622 to 613 points.
McLaughlin could have wrapped up the title by ending this weekend on the Gold Coast with a 600-point lead over van Gisbergen with two rounds remaining.
Now, van Gisbergen gets a chance to make a major dent in McLaughlin's lead.
He topped Sunday's qualifying with a lap of 1m 10.32s, but was just glad McLaughlin had emerged unscathed.
"It's not a good feeling coming around the corner and seeing one of your mates on his side," van Gisbergen said.
"I helped him out, but the medical team were there fast. He was pretty shaken, but he will be fine.
"It was irrelevant who it was when I first saw it. You would do it for anyone in the field - it was shocking."
Meanwhile, there was drama before Sunday qualifying, with Holden's Richie Stanaway stood down by Garry Rogers Motorsport due to disciplinary reasons.
Stanaway was replaced by Dylan O'Keeffe, who will partner Chris Pither for Sunday's race.
O'Keefe's injection was so late, he had to borrow Pither's race suit and helmet for the morning qualifying session.
AAP
