Jamie Whincup has celebrated the signing of a new three-year deal taking pole position for tomorrow’s MSS Security V8 Supercars Challenge Qualifying Race at Albert Park.
The TeamVodafone driver finished almost half a second ahead of second-placed Orrcon Steel FPR's Mark Winterbottom and SP Tools Racing's Shane van Gisbergen in third. Clocking a time of 1m55.0805s, Whincup smashed the previous category qualifying lap record at the 5.303km circuit.
Will Davison (Trading Post FPR), Craig Lowndes (TeamVodafone), Garth Tander (Holden Racing Team), Tony D'Alberto (Tony D'Alberto Racing), David Reynolds (The Bottle-O Racing Team), Michael Caruso (Fujitsu Racing GRM) and Rick Kelly (Jack Daniels Racing) round out the top 10.
The 13-lap Qualifying Race, which will sort the grid for Race 2 takes place tomorrow and involves a knock-out system in which the last three cars on lap three to eight will return to the pits until the field is down to ten runners racing to the flag over the remaining five laps.
Three shortened races will then be held which will include mandatory pitstops for fuel and use of both soft and hard compound tyres.
Full qualifying result:
1 | Jamie Whincup | TeamVodafone | 1:55.0805 | |
2 | Mark Winterbottom | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | 1:55.5648 | 0:00.4843 |
3 | Shane Van Gisbergen | SP Tools Racing | 1:55.6802 | 0:00.5997 |
4 | Will Davison | Trading Post FPR Ford | 1:55.7447 | 0:00.6642 |
5 | Craig Lowndes | TeamVodafone | 1:55.9304 | 0:00.8499 |
6 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | 1:56.2841 | 0:01.2036 |
7 | Tony D'Alberto | Tony D'Alberto Racing | 1:56.3597 | 0:01.2792 |
8 | David Reynolds | The Bottle-O Racing Team | 1:56.3928 | 0:01.3123 |
9 | Michael Caruso | Fujitsu Racing GRM | 1:56.4374 | 0:01.3569 |
10 | Rick Kelly | Jack Daniel's Racing | 1:56.5473 | 0:01.4668 |
11 | Tim Slade | Lucky 7 Racing | 1:56.6163 | 0:01.5358 |
12 | Todd Kelly | Jack Daniel's Racing | 1:56.7128 | 0:01.6323 |
13 | Lee Holdsworth | Irwin Racing | 1:56.7776 | 0:01.6971 |
14 | Alexandre Premat | Fujitsu Racing GRM | 1:56.8335 | 0:01.7530 |
15 | Greg Murphy | Pepsi Max Crew | 1:56.8517 | 0:01.7712 |
16 | Fabian Coulthard | Lockwood Racing | 1:56.8732 | 0:01.7927 |
17 | James Courtney | Holden Racing Team | 1:56.8746 | 0:01.7941 |
18 | Russell Ingall | Supercheap Auto Racing | 1:56.9799 | 0:01.8994 |
19 | Steven Johnson | Jim Beam Racing | 1:57.1641 | 0:02.0836 |
20 | Steve Owen | V.I.P. Petfoods | 1:57.1884 | 0:02.1079 |
21 | Michael Patrizi | Tekno Autosports | 1:57.2053 | 0:02.1248 |
22 | Taz Douglas | Team iSelect | 1:57.2456 | 0:02.1651 |
23 | Karl Reindler | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | 1:57.2615 | 0:02.1810 |
24 | Jason Bright | Team BOC | 1:57.3541 | 0:02.2736 |
25 | Dean Fiore | Jim Beam Racing | 1:57.4308 | 0:02.3503 |
26 | James Moffat | Team Norton DJR | 1:57.4325 | 0:02.3520 |
27 | Jonathon Webb | Tekno Autosports | 1:57.6749 | 0:02.5944 |
28 | David Wall | Wilson Security Racing | 1:58.2898 | 0:03.2093 |