Saturday, 25 November 2017: Ford star Scott McLaughlin will start from pole position in the penultimate Supercars race of the season.

Scott McLaughlin has grabbed pole position for Saturday's crucial Supercars race in Newcastle, giving him a golden opportunity to claw back ground on championship leader Jamie Whincup.

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The Ford gun scorched the brand-new street circuit in one minute and 9.9065 seconds in another display of superior qualifying speed to set up his 15th start from pole this season.

Holden's six-time championship winner Jamie Whincup, who leads the overall standings by 30 points, qualified fifth fastest, less than a tenth of a second behind McLaughlin.

"This weekend is the most important of the year and obviously to get pole and be in this position is fantastic," McLaughlin said,

"It's going to be a tough track to pass and there's going to be a lot of strategy, but I'm sure people behind us will come at us pretty hard.

"All we can do is go fastest and win and see what happens behind us."

McLaughlin will take the lead in the title race with a win in Saturday's 250km race if Whincup finishes fifth or worse.

If McLaughlin wins and Whincup finishes fourth, the standings will be level, setting up a mouth-watering final 95-lap race on Sunday.

"P5 around a track that's tight and twisty and is hard to pass we're going to have our work cut out this afternoon but that's the way it goes," Whincup said.

Holden's David Reynolds will start alongside McLaughlin on the grid.

Whincup's Triple Eight Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen will lead the second row after qualifying third quickest with Nissan's Michael Caruso starting beside him.

Saturday's race starts at 3.45pm AEDT.