[4] Tim Slade ran a one-off livery at the event, with major sponsorship from Alliance Truck Parts.

[5] His team, Brad Jones Racing, also announced a new technical alliance with American engineering firm Pratt & Miller in order to improve its understanding of its cars.

[6] DJR Team Penske continued its sponsor rotation, running a Hog's Breath livery on Fabian Coulthard's car,[7] while Nissan Motorsport ran a one-off livery on Michael Caruso's car to promote a new deal between Nissan and A-League team Melbourne City.

[8] Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport took part with mostly blank cars following a failed sponsorship deal between the team and controversial Gold Coast businessman Travers Beynon.

Whincup took his first pole position of the season, setting a time of 1:12.1443 to be fastest ahead of Van Gisbergen and James Courtney.

Both drivers stopped on the track and Percat ran into the back of Kelly, who was given a drive-through penalty for causing the incident.

The result saw Whincup extend his championship lead to 83 points, with Van Gisbergen moving into second place ahead of Winterbottom.

Davison, Lowndes, McLaughlin, Mostert, Reynolds, Scott Pye and Tander also progressed to the top ten shootout.

Reynolds made the best start and moved from fifth to second in the opening lap, behind Winterbottom and ahead of Whincup and Van Gisbergen.

After locking a brake and damaging one of his front tyres, Van Gisbergen was the first driver to make a scheduled pit stop, doing so on lap 12.

Running longer on older tyres hurt Whincup's times and he rejoined the race in twelfth place, while Winterbottom continued to lead from Van Gisbergen and Reynolds.

Kostecki crashed on lap 30 due to a mechanical failure, leading to the deployment of the safety car and triggering the second round of pit stops.

[17] Winterbottom maintained the lead ahead of Van Gisbergen and Reynolds, while Whincup moved up to fourth place having needed less fuel than other drivers in the second pit stop.

The race restarted on lap 65 with Van Gisbergen leading Winterbottom, Whincup, McLaughlin and Reynolds, while Courtney was ninth and the highest placed of those who had stopped.

Whincup and McLaughlin finished fourth and fifth, while sixth through to tenth place were filled by drivers who had taken on new tyres: Waters, Pye, Caruso, Bright and Lowndes.