Van Gisbergen and Davison were the only two drivers to run four new tyres in the Top 10 Shootout after rolling the dice on a single run in qualifying.
They both put that tyre advantage to good use, Davison pulling three-tenths clear of the those that had run before him with his lap.
It wasn't quite good enough for pole, though, van Gisbergen then pipping his Dick Johnson Racing rival by just 0.004s.
That was despite the Kiwi losing time with small mistakes at Turn 2 and Turn 7.
"The first sector we lost a little bit and Turn 7 I mucked up," said van Gisbergen. "But the car is awesome.
"Obviously we were one of the only guys on new tyres so that helped us, but to be on the front row here is a huge help.
"I have no idea [what to expect in the race]. We'll just see what happens. We'll put softs on at the end and see where we end up."
Provisional polesitter Cam Waters was the star of the Shootout, the Tickford driver just 0.03s off pole despite running used tyres.
Andre Heimgartner lost one spot compared to qualifying as he took fourth spot ahead of Anton De Pasquale and Jack Le Brocq.
Chaz Mostert wiped the outside mirror off his car as he charged to seventh on the grid ahead of Broc Feeney, Tim Slade and Scott Pye.
The first of two 250-kilometre races kicks off at 2:45pm local time.
Townsville 500 Top 10 Shootout results
| Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 97 |  Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'13.3674 | ||
| 2 | 17 |  Will Davison | Ford Mustang GT | 1'13.3719 | 0.0045 | 0.0045 |
| 3 | 8 | Andre Heimgartner | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'13.6328 | 0.2654 | 0.2609 |
| 4 | 11 | Anton De Pasquale | Ford Mustang GT | 1'13.7108 | 0.3434 | 0.0780 |
| 5 | 34 | Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'13.8318 | 0.4644 | 0.1210 |
| 6 | 25 | Chaz Mostert | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'13.8653 | 0.4979 | 0.0335 |
| 7 | 88 | Broc Feeney | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'14.0831 | 0.7157 | 0.2178 |
| 8 | 3 | Tim Slade | Ford Mustang GT | 1'14.2360 | 0.8686 | 0.1529 |
| 9 | 20 | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'14.3989 | 1.0315 | 0.1629 |
| 6 | Cameron Waters | Ford Mustang GT | ||||
| View full results | ||||||
