Mark Winterbottom has recorded the fastest time in a thrilling Friday V8 Supercars qualifying session at the Clipsal 500.
Winterbottom’s Ford Performance Racing team-mate Will Davison sat at the top of the order before being edged by first Craig Lowndes and then the Orrcon Ford inside the final 90s.
Winterbottom’s 1:20.82s effort is the quickest ever for a V8 Supercar around the Adelaide Parklands Street Circuit. The top three drivers were separated by less than 0.05s at the conclusion of the session.
Jamie Whincup, Shane van Gisbergen, Garth Tander, Tim Slade, Fabian Coulthard, David Reynolds and Jonathon Webb complete the top 10 ahead of the shootout later this afternoon.
The qualifying session was punctuated by two red flag periods, with the first called after just five minutes when Karl Reindler tagged the exit wall at Turn 3. The Kelly Racing Commodore was left stranded in the Turn 4 run-off area with rear-end damage.
“I made a mistake on the kerb at Turn 2, went a little bit wide out on the marbles, and once you’re out there on a street circuit it’s pretty hard to get it back,” said Reindler afterward. “I hit the wall nice and square, but it was enough to damage the diff a little bit.”
Whincup had sat atop the order at the time of the red flag, and was the only driver not to return to the track before the second stoppage, this time for Jason Bright’s Team BOC Commodore, which had come to rest in the Turn 11 gravel trap.
Whincup was the first to return to the circuit when the green flags flew, moving briefly to second behind Davison, before the late efforts from Lowndes and Winterbottom.
French rookie Alexandre Premat will start his first V8 Supercars race from 25th tomorrow, despite qualifying just 1.3s slower than Winterbottom.
The top 10 shootout will take place at 1605 this afternoon.
See below for the full qualifying result
1 | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Â Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:20.8159 | |
2 | TeamVodafone | Â Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:20.8471 | Â 0:00.0312 |
3 | Trading Post FPR Ford | Â Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 1:20.8565 | Â 0:00.0406 |
4 | TeamVodafone | Â Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:20.9212 | Â 0:00.1053 |
5 | SP Tools Racing | Â Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.0080 | Â 0:00.1921 |
6 | Holden Racing Team | Â Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.0458 | Â 0:00.2299 |
7 | Lucky 7 Racing | Â Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.1702 | Â 0:00.3543 |
8 | Lockwood Racing | Â Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.1999 | Â 0:00.3840 |
9 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Â David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.2051 | Â 0:00.3892 |
10 | Tekno Autosports | Â Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.2368 | Â 0:00.4209 |
11 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Â Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.2386 | Â 0:00.4227 |
12 | Tony D’Alberto Racing | Â Tony D’Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.3746 | Â 0:00.5587 |
13 | Holden Racing Team | Â James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.4035 | Â 0:00.5876 |
14 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Â Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.4148 | Â 0:00.5989 |
15 | Irwin Racing | Â Lee Holdsworth | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.4880 | Â 0:00.6721 |
16 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Â Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.4966 | Â 0:00.6807 |
17 | V.I.P. Petfoods | Â Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.5431 | Â 0:00.7272 |
18 | Jim Beam Racing | Â Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.5915 | Â 0:00.7756 |
19 | Team Norton DJR | Â James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.5928 | Â 0:00.7769 |
20 | Tekno Autosports | Â Michael Patrizi | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.6802 | Â 0:00.8643 |
21 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Â Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.7532 | Â 0:00.9373 |
22 | Pepsi Max Crew | Â Greg Murphy | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.7964 | Â 0:00.9805 |
23 | Jim Beam Racing | Â Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.9426 | Â 0:01.1267 |
24 | Team iSelect | Â Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:22.1907 | Â 0:01.3748 |
25 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Â Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:22.1991 | Â 0:01.3832 |
26 | Wilson Security Racing | Â David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:22.4358 | Â 0:01.6199 |
27 | Team BOC | Â Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:29.3326 | Â 0:08.5167 |
28 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Â Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | – | – |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Clipsal 500 Adelaide Race Guide