Jason Bright scored pole position for Race 10 at Pukekohe in a qualifying session highlighted by a wild spin and subsequent recovery from Mark Winterbottom.
Bright’s best of 1:03.196s was set at the halfway mark of the 20 minute session and, surprisingly, proved able to withstand all challenges on the final tyre runs.
The former Bathurst winner’s first pole of the 2014 season comes at the venue where he emotionally won the Jason Richards Trophy last year.
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“It’s a good way to start the weekend as qualifying has been our weakness this year,” he said.
“To put it on pole for today’s race is handy, so hopefully we can get off the line petty well and it should be a good weekend.”
Jamie Whincup drew within 0.08s of the Team BOC with a late effort, completing a fine recovery from a tough practice this morning.
Shane van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes will share the second row, while Will Davison, James Courtney, Scott McLaughlin, Nick Percat, Fabian Coulthard and Mark Winterbottom completed the top 10.
Practice pace-setter Winterbottom ran wide at the high-speed final corner and tagged the wall moments prior to Bright’s lap being recorded.
The factory Ford outfit rapidly fixed left rear damage to the #5 Falcon in order to return Winterbottom to the track for a final effort.
Rejoining the circuit in 19th, the patched together Falcon proved good enough to bump that of team-mate David Reynolds from the top 10.
James Moffat was the fastest of the Nissans in 13th after a mistake from team leader Rick Kelly ended the #15 Altima’s session early.
Kelly brought out the red flags in the opening minutes after a heavy kerb strike at Turn 2 resulted in a trip into the Turn 3 sand. He’ll start 25th.
QUALIFYING: Race 1 – ITM 500 Auckland – Pukekohe Park
Position | Car | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
1 | 8 | Jason Bright | Team BOC | Holden Commodore VF | 1:03.1962 | |
2 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Red Bull Racing Australia | Holden Commodore VF | 1:03.2714 | 0:00.0752 |
3 | 97 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Team Tekno VIP Petfoods | Holden Commodore VF | 1:03.2742 | 0:00.0780 |
4 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Red Bull Racing Australia | Holden Commodore VF | 1:03.2883 | 0:00.0921 |
5 | 9 | Will Davison | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:03.3167 | 0:00.1205 |
6 | 22 | James Courtney | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore VF | 1:03.3302 | 0:00.1340 |
7 | 33 | Scott McLaughlin | Valvoline Racing GRM | Volvo S60 | 1:03.3448 | 0:00.1486 |
8 | 222 | Nick Percat | Walkinshaw Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:03.3483 | 0:00.1521 |
9 | 14 | Fabian Coulthard | Lockwood Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:03.3864 | 0:00.1902 |
10 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Ford Falcon FG | 1:03.3949 | 0:00.1987 |
11 | 55 | David Reynolds | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Ford Falcon FG | 1:03.4091 | 0:00.2129 |
12 | 4 | Lee Holdsworth | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:03.4204 | 0:00.2242 |
13 | 360 | James Moffat | Norton Hornets | Nissan Altima | 1:03.4484 | 0:00.2522 |
14 | 47 | Tim Slade | Supercheap Auto Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:03.4496 | 0:00.2534 |
15 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Nissan Altima | 1:03.4713 | 0:00.2751 |
16 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore VF | 1:03.4847 | 0:00.2885 |
17 | 36 | Michael Caruso | Norton Hornets | Nissan Altima | 1:03.5027 | 0:00.3065 |
18 | 18 | Jack Perkins | Team JELD-WEN | Ford Falcon FG | 1:03.5511 | 0:00.3549 |
19 | 16 | Scott Pye | Wilson Security Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 1:03.6802 | 0:00.4840 |
20 | 23 | Russell Ingall | Repair Management Aust Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:03.7514 | 0:00.5552 |
21 | 6 | Chaz Mostert | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Ford Falcon FG | 1:03.8049 | 0:00.6087 |
22 | 17 | David Wall | Wilson Security Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 1:03.9599 | 0:00.7637 |
23 | 34 | Robert Dahlgren | Valvoline Racing GRM | Volvo S60 | 1:03.9759 | 0:00.7797 |
24 | 21 | Dale Wood | Team Advam/GB | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.0432 | 0:00.8470 |
25 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Nissan Altima | 1:08.9993 | 0:05.8031 |