Will Brown has tightened his grip on the Supercars championship after topping a crash-interrupted qualifying at the Adelaide 500.
Richie Stanaway, Cam Hill and David Reynolds made the same mistake on the same stretch of track within seconds of each other, resulting in a red flag halting the session soon after it began on Friday afternoon.
Brown, who leads Triple Eight teammate Broc Feeney by 180 points at the top of the standings, will jump last in Saturday's top-10 shootout after sealing the fastest lap time before the session was declared.
Feeney also made the shootout with the fourth-fastest time.
Race stewards suspended the session after less than five minutes of green flag racing following the barely believable triple crash.
Stanaway was too tight coming into the apex at turn eight and smashed into the inside wall before ricocheting into the concrete barrier opposite.
The Grove Racing man's Ford Mustang was badly damaged but nowhere near as severely as Hill's Chevrolet Camaro barely moments later.
In a near carbon copy of the incident, Hill hit the same point on the inside corner and careened into the same part of the wall before what was left of his car came to a stop.
Reynolds then unbelievably endured the same crash before his Camaro came to a halt on top of Hill's wreck.
A gutted Hill was reluctant to blame the shadows of trees overhanging turn eight for affecting his visibility and causing the crash.
"First push lap it is different, there is a lot of shadows there," he said.
"I'm not going to say that's why I shunted, but, just a real shame."
Reynolds, who had been the fastest driver of the round across the two opening practice sessions, was filthy with himself.
"I was probably just a bit overcomitted to be fair. Stupid mistake," he said.
Grove Racing's Dave Cauchi confirmed Stanaway's car would be good to go again on Saturday but the engineers at Matt Stone Racing and Team 18 will have a long night ahead if they are to get Hill and Reynolds's Camaro's back on track.
Whatever the results of the shootout, race 23 will feature a jumbled grid due to the truncated nature of the session.
Aaron Love and Jaxon Evans both managed to sneak into the shootout for the first time of their careers, while James Courtney, Macauley Jones and Bryce Fullwood also made a rare entry into the top 10 this season.
Chaz Mostert, who sits third on the standings, will start near the bottom of the grid after failing to record a lap time before the red flag was waved.
Asked if he thought it was fair that some drivers missed out because they didn't manage to get a lap in, Brown said it was hard to tell what the best thing to do would be in the situation.
"I think it's going to make for interesting racing and make for a great race. But if that's the right thing to do - I'm sure people will have their different opinions," he said.
Tickford duo Cam Waters and Thomas Randle came second and third, while Matt Payne was sixth.
Rising star Cooper Murray will start in 17th in the No.9 Camaro after he was a last minute call-up for Erebus.
Murray replaced Jack Le Brocq after the 32-year-old pulled out on Thursday night to return home for the birth of his first child.
The final shape of the grid will be decided by the top 10 shootout at 12.35pm (ACDT) on Saturday before race 23 begins at 3.20pm.
RACE 23 QUALIFYING RESULTS:
1. Will Brown (Triple Eight Race Engineering) 1:19.442
2. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing) +0.363
3. Thomas Randle (Tickford Racing) +0.412
4. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering) +0.748
5. James Courtney (Blanchard Racing Team) +0.926
