McLaughlin on pole in Townsville

Scott McLaughlin drives the #33 Wilson Security Racing GRM Volvo during race 16 for the Townsville 400. Photo / Getty

Volvo's Scott McLaughlin has snared his first pole position of the year for Sunday's V8 Supercars race in Townsville.

The New Zealander clocked a shootout lap of one minute and 13.4117 seconds to snap Ford's dominance of the event.

McLaughlin's time was enough for him to move past Ford trio David Reynolds, Chaz Mostert and Mark Winterbottom after qualifying fourth-fastest for the shootout.

After snaring 10 pole positions last year in Volvo's debut, McLaughlin has endured a tougher season this time around and he ran out of his garage in celebration after the result was confirmed.

"That's awesome," he told Fox Sports.

"To all our sponsors and our fans for sticking by us and my team, myself, the team have stuck by me, fixed all my issues and everything I've been complaining about and it is the best crew.

"I'm so happy."

Mostert (1:13.5737) will start from second on the grid for the 70-lap race with Reynolds (1:13.8378) and Shane van Gisbergen (1:13.7456) behind the front pair.

Championship leader Winterbottom will start from fifth he could only manage a 1:13.8618.

He'll start alongside nearest rival Fabian Coulthard.

Defending series champion Jamie Whincup missed the shootout and will have to start from the middle of the field in 13th.

It's even more dire for his Red Bull Racing teammate Craig Lowndes, who will start from a lowly 23rd on the grid after a disastrous qualifying run.

Sunday's race starts at 6.15pm NZT.

-AAP