Winterbottom leads Prodrive front-row lockout

Winterbottom led a Prodrive one-two in qualifying

Mark Winterbottom edged team-mate Chaz Mostert to record a commanding one-two result for Prodrive in qualifying at Albert Park.

A 1:56.05s effort saw Winterbottom move a scant 0.03s clear of Mostert with just 90 seconds of the 30 minute session remaining.

The result was an emphatic way for Ford to end its V8 Supercars pole drought, which stretched back to November, 2013.

The Holden Racing Team’s James Courtney proved the best of the rest in third, a full 0.3s adrift of pole.

Prodrive’s strong day, which had seen their cars top both practice sessions, was completed with a fourth place qualifying performance from David Reynolds.

Whincup starts ninth after this mistake on his final tyre set

“The team has done an incredible job, it’s been an awesome day,” said Winterbottom.

“We’ve topped every session between us and I’ve got the right one which is nice because I haven’t had a pole for such a long time.

“The car is really good. We always thought we had a good car on high speed tracks, but Adelaide proved a bit of a challenge in terms of a lower speed layout.

“But if we can improve where we’re already good and tinker away at the slow speed ones we should be in for a good year.

“You’ve got to enjoy the results when you get them and I’m just rapt to get a pole position again.”

Kiwis Shane van Gisbergen, Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard filled fifth through seventh, ahead of Tim Slade, Jamie Whincup and Todd Kelly.

Whincup sat just 17th as the chequered flag flew after running off at Turn 1 on the first lap with his final set of tyres.

The Red Bull star rescued ninth with a second lap to end up four places clear of team-mate Craig Lowndes.

“I hit the brakes and she locked up, so I’ll put my hand up for that one,” rued Whincup.

“It’s not really the place I wanted to start, but that’s life and we’ll see if we can pick a few off in the race.”

Todd Kelly was meanwhile just 0.04s ahead of brother Rick in the battle for top Nissan honours.

Stable-mate Michael Caruso’s horror day with his new car continued as the #23 Altima again failed to complete a flying lap due to electrical issues, despite a pre-session engine change.

“We’ll figure it out tonight but we haven’t gotten to the bottom of it yet,” said Nissan Motorsport’s Scott Sinclair of the issue. “It’s one of those pesky electrical dramas that no one can see.”

The V8 Supercars will take to the track for two races tomorrow, with Race 1 at 1420 and Race 2 scheduled for 1820.

Result: V8 Supercars Qualifying, Albert Park

1

Pepsi Max Crew

Mark Winterbottom

Ford Falcon FG/X

01:56.05

2

Pepsi Max Crew

Chaz Mostert

Ford Falcon FG/X

01:56.08

00:00.03

3

Holden Racing Team

James Courtney

Holden Commodore VF

01:56.34

00:00.29

4

The Bottle-O Racing Team

David Reynolds

Ford Falcon FG/X

01:56.42

00:00.37

5

Team Darrell Lea STIX

Shane Van Gisbergen

Holden Commodore VF

01:56.44

00:00.39

6

Wilson Security Racing GRM

Scott McLaughlin

Volvo S60

01:56.50

00:00.45

7

Freightliner Racing

Fabian Coulthard

Holden Commodore VF

01:56.54

00:00.49

8

Supercheap Auto Racing

Tim Slade

Holden Commodore VF

01:56.61

00:00.56

9

Red Bull Racing Australia

Jamie Whincup

Holden Commodore VF

01:56.63

00:00.58

10

Nissan Motorsport

Todd Kelly

Nissan Altima

01:56.71

00:00.66

11

Nissan Motorsport

Rick Kelly

Nissan Altima

01:56.72

00:00.67

12

Holden Racing Team

Garth Tander

Holden Commodore VF

01:56.73

00:00.68

13

Red Bull Racing Australia

Craig Lowndes

Holden Commodore VF

01:56.76

00:00.71

14

Nissan Mororsport

James Moffat

Nissan Altima

01:56.77

00:00.72

15

Erebus Motorsport V8

Will Davison

Mercedes E63 AMG

01:56.81

00:00.75

16

Walkinshaw Racing

Lee Holdsworth

Holden Commodore VF

01:56.83

00:00.78

17

Team BOC

Jason Bright

Holden Commodore VF

01:56.99

00:00.94

18

Repair Management Aust Racing

Nick Percat

Holden Commodore VF

01:57.12

00:01.06

19

Erebus Motorsport V8

Ashley Walsh

Mercedes E63 AMG

01:57.15

00:01.10

20

DJR Team Penske

Marcos Ambrose

Ford Falcon FG/X

01:57.46

00:01.41

21

Team GB Galvanizing

Dale Wood

Holden Commodore VF

01:57.59

00:01.53

22

Team Cooldrive

Tim Blanchard

Holden Commodore VF

01:57.60

00:01.55

23

Super Black Racing

Andre Heimgartner

Ford Falcon FG

01:57.74

00:01.68

24

Wilson Security Racing GRM

Chris Pither

Volvo S60

01:57.88

00:01.83

25

Nissan Motorsport

Michael Caruso

Nissan Altima

04:51.42

02:55.37