Whincup continues domination in Sunday qualifying

Jamie Whincup has continued to set the pace at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, by scoring pole position for both Sunday afternoon races.

The Red Bull Racing Australia driver will share the front-row of the Race 15 grid with team-mate Craig Lowndes, who could manage no better than 12th in the second 15 minute hit-out.

Fabian Coulthard and Mark Winterbottom fill the Race 15 second row, while Rick Kelly put in Nissan’s best qualifying performance to date with fifth.

Whincup needed just one green tyre lap in the second session to score his eighth pole of the season, becoming the first driver to break into the 1:31s bracket across the weekend in the process.

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The differing tyre strategies made for a particularly exciting end to the Race 16 session as Lowndes, Scott McLaughlin, Rick Kelly, Garth Tander and eventually Whincup all spent time at the top of the sheet over the final 90 seconds.

Coulthard dropped into second as the chequered flag fell while an even later lap from Jason Bright ensured that the Brad Jones Racing Holdens will sit either side of Tander’s Holden Racing Team entry on the Race 16 grid.

The second Sunday race will be hard work for Ford Performance Racing with its star drivers Winterbottom and Will Davison starting just 10th and 14th respectively.

Tim Slade led the Mercedes effort with a 19th and a 21st from the two sessions.

Races 15 and 16 will follow the same format as the Saturday hit-outs in Austin, with each 100km the duration and requiring a compulsory tyre stop.

See below for the full Race 15 qualifying result

1	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.1034
2	Red Bull Racing Australia	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.5502	0:00.4468
3	Lockwood Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.6039	0:00.5005
4	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG	1:32.7042	0:00.6008
5	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:32.8497	0:00.7463
6	Tekno Autosports	Jonathon Webb	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.8958	0:00.7924
7	TEKNO Team VIP	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.9011	0:00.7977
8	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.9150	0:00.8116
9	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:32.9619	0:00.8585
10	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.0645	0:00.9611
11	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG	1:33.1127	0:01.0093
12	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.2087	0:01.1053
13	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.2447	0:01.1413
14	Norton 360 Racing	James Moffat	Nissan Altima	1:33.3182	0:01.2148
15	Wilson Security Racing	David Wall	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.4033	0:01.2999
16	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Alexandre Premat	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.4781	0:01.3747
17	Wilson Security Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG	1:33.4845	0:01.3811
18	Norton 360 Racing	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1:33.5028	0:01.3994
19	Heavy Haulage Australia	Tim Slade	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:33.5392	0:01.4358
20	ekol Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.6372	0:01.5338
21	Team HIFLEX	Tony D’Alberto	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.6682	0:01.5648
22	Supercheap Auto Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.6934	0:01.5900
23	Dodo Insurance Racing	Dean Fiore	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.7444	0:01.6410
24	Irwin Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:33.7610	0:01.6576
25	The Bottle-O FPR Ford	David Reynolds	Ford Falcon FG	1:33.8720	0:01.7686
26	Jeld-wen FPR Ford	Alex Davison	Ford Falcon FG	1:33.9755	0:01.8721
27	SP Tools Racing	Maro Engel	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:34.3153	0:02.2119
28	Wilson Security Racing	Tim Blanchard	Ford Falcon FG	1:35.3872	0:03.2838

See below for the full Race 16 qualifying result

1	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1:31.9948
2	Lockwood Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.1755	0:00.1807
3	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.2193	0:00.2245
4	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.3410	0:00.3462
5	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:32.4295	0:00.4347
6	Wilson Security Racing	David Wall	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.4347	0:00.4399
7	Tekno Autosports	Jonathon Webb	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.5313	0:00.5365
8	TEKNO Team VIP	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.5396	0:00.5448
9	Norton 360 Racing	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1:32.5626	0:00.5678
10	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG	1:32.5938	0:00.5990
11	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.6965	0:00.7017
12	Red Bull Racing Australia	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.7248	0:00.7300
13	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Alexandre Premat	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.7844	0:00.7896
14	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG	1:32.8635	0:00.8687
15	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:32.9617	0:00.9669
16	Team HIFLEX	Tony D’Alberto	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.0620	0:01.0672
17	Jeld-wen FPR Ford	Alex Davison	Ford Falcon FG	1:33.1063	0:01.1115
18	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.1626	0:01.1678
19	Supercheap Auto Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.1867	0:01.1919
20	Wilson Security Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG	1:33.1876	0:01.1928
21	Heavy Haulage Australia	Tim Slade	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:33.2005	0:01.2057
22	Norton 360 Racing	James Moffat	Nissan Altima	1:33.2244	0:01.2296
23	The Bottle-O FPR Ford	David Reynolds	Ford Falcon FG	1:33.2878	0:01.2930
24	ekol Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.3109	0:01.3161
25	Dodo Insurance Racing	Dean Fiore	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.5533	0:01.5585
26	Irwin Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:33.6023	0:01.6075
27	SP Tools Racing	Maro Engel	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:33.6038	0:01.6090
28	Wilson Security Racing	Tim Blanchard	Ford Falcon FG	1:34.2582	0:02.2634