Shane van Gisbergen's hopes of defending his Clipsal 500 trophy have received a major boost with the Kiwi scoring pole position on Sunday in Adelaide.
Van Gisbergen topped the 20 minute qualifying session and subsequent Shootout to record his first pole of the season.
Jamie Whincup will start on the outside of the front-row having set a benchmark that eventually fell 0.2s short of his Tekno rival.
Having been involved in several incidents during Race 2, for which he started back in 16th, Van Gisbergen says that he's looking forward to being up the front.
“The car was awesome and we really just worked on getting the temperature for the first lap and right from the first corner it was on,” he said of the Top 10.
“We'll just try and get clear air at the start and have a go. Yesterday we had a fast car but just kept getting caught up with mistakes and other people. Hopefully it's a better race today.”
Second-row starters Garth Tander and Rick Kelly were the big winners of the Shootout, jumping from sixth and ninth after qualifying respectively.
Craig Lowndes and Scott McLaughlin meanwhile were the clear losers of the one-lap session.
Second in qualifying, the #888 Holden had been quicker than Whincup to the second sector before sliding wide at Turn 9 and ending up seventh.
Hero of the weekend so far, Scott McLaughlin, was fourth after qualifying but will start just 10th after triggering the Turn 2 kerb sensor on his lap.
Fifth proved a solid result for Mark Winterbottom, who had made the Shootout despite a damaged rear-bumper after contact from Dale Wood at pit exit.
The FPR Falcon driver had propped at the exit in order to let Fabian Coulthard, who had been coming down the straight on a hot lap, take the racing line into Turn 1.
Wood was forced to pit with a crumpled bonnet but returned to the circuit to set the 21st quickest time.
The session featured an early stoppage to retrieve Robert Dahlgren's Volvo after it dropped oil pressure and was parked on the run to Turn 9.
See below for the Top 10 Shootout result
1 | Team Tekno VIP Petfoods | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 1:20.6535* | |
2 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1:20.8421 | 0:00.1886 |
3 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 1:21.0115 | 0:00.3580 |
4 | Jack Daniel's Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:21.2016 | 0:00.5481 |
5 | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.2224 | 0:00.5689 |
6 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1:21.3774 | 0:00.7239 |
7 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1:21.3990 | 0:00.7455 |
8 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 1:21.3999 | 0:00.7464 |
9 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Lee Holdsworth | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:21.6617 | 0:01.0082 |
10 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 |
See below for the qualifying session result
1 | Team Tekno VIP Petfoods | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 1:20.3776R | |
2 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1:20.4317 | 0:00.0541 |
3 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1:20.4771 | 0:00.0995 |
4 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 1:20.4886 | 0:00.1110 |
5 | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:20.7507 | 0:00.3731 |
6 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 1:20.7785 | 0:00.4009 |
7 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1:20.7978 | 0:00.4202 |
8 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 1:20.8373 | 0:00.4597 |
9 | Jack Daniel's Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:20.8605 | 0:00.4829 |
10 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Lee Holdsworth | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:20.8930 | 0:00.5154 |
11 | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG | 1:20.9250 | 0:00.5474 |
12 | Norton Hornets | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | 1:20.9329 | 0:00.5553 |
13 | Walkinshaw Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 1:20.9415 | 0:00.5639 |
14 | Jack Daniel's Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:20.9683 | 0:00.5907 |
15 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 1:20.9774 | 0:00.5998 |
16 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:21.0091 | 0:00.6315 |
17 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Will Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:21.0725 | 0:00.6949 |
18 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.0759 | 0:00.6983 |
19 | Norton Hornets | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1:21.0780 | 0:00.7004 |
20 | Wilson Security Racing | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.1046 | 0:00.7270 |
21 | Team Advam/GB | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 1:21.1500 | 0:00.7724 |
22 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.1953 | 0:00.8177 |
23 | Team JELD-WEN | Jack Perkins | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.2752 | 0:00.8976 |
24 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VF | 1:21.3449 | 0:00.9673 |
25 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Robert Dahlgren | Volvo S60 |