Lowndes takes Symmons Plains pole double

Craig Lowndes has put himself in the box seat for success in today’s Symmons Plains Super Sprints by taking pole position for both races.

The Red Bull Holden ran 51.66s and 51.62s bests in the respective 10 minute sessions to score both Armor All Pole Awards.

With passing expected to be extremely tough around the tight 2.41km venue, Lowndes is hopeful of converting the poles into victories.

“Shippy (engineer Grant McPherson) and I have been working really hard since the start of the season,” said Lowndes.

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“This is a track I traditionally go well at and it’s nice to be up the front I can tell you.”

Race 4 of the season will see Mark Winterbottom share the front-row with Lowndes, while James Courtney, practice pace-setter Will Davison and David Reynolds complete the top five.

Shane van Gisbergen recorded the sixth best time but will lose grid positions to Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup after a penalty for contact with Ash Walsh.

The Tekno Holden spun the Mercedes at the Turn 4 hairpin; an incident for which the Kiwi later apologised.

“I just mucked up and locked the rears,” he said. “It’s not a fun walk going to say sorry but it was my mistake completely.”

Will Davison endured a similar incident with Todd Kelly, leaving Erebus with its own front-end damage to fix before the second session.

Race 5 qualifying saw Whincup improve to second behind Lowndes, edging out the consistent James Courtney and David Reynolds.

Rookie Andre Heimgartner was meanwhile the star of the second hit-out, scoring an outstanding fifth in his first outing with the FG X Falcon package.

“The car is absolutely fabulous,” he said, having been 11th in the earlier session.

“We made a little tweak between sessions and it was a jet. It’s great to have me and Dave (Reynolds) up there and lead the PRA group.”

Winterbottom managed only seventh for Race 5, with Davison and Van Gisbergen down in ninth and 10th respectively.

It was a tough pair of sessions for Scott McLaughlin, who struggled to 17th and eighth in his Volvo.

Another buried in the midfield is Scott Pye, who qualified the DJR Team Penske Ford in 15th and 18th for the respective 25 lap heats.

Race 4 of the is scheduled for 1515, with Race 5 at 1715.

QUALIFYING: Race 4 – Symmons Plains

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap
1	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing Australia	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.6558*
2	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.7030	0:00.0472
3	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.7675	0:00.1117
4	Will Davison	Erebus Motorsport V8	Mercedes E63 AMG	0:51.7889	0:00.1331
5	David Reynolds	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.7942	0:00.1384
6	Chaz Mostert	Pepsi Max Crew	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.8875	0:00.2317
7	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing Australia	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.9057	0:00.2499
8	Shane van Gisbergen*	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.8378	0:00.1820
9	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.9852	0:00.3294
10	Tim Slade	Supercheap Auto Racing	Holden Commodore VF	0:52.0973	0:00.4415
11	Andre Heimgartner	Super Black Racing	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:52.1210	0:00.4652
12	Todd Kelly	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima	0:52.1442	0:00.4884
13	Fabian Coulthard	Freightliner Racing	Holden Commodore VF	0:52.1596	0:00.5038
14	Lee Holdsworth	Walkinshaw Racing	Holden Commodore VF	0:52.1926	0:00.5368
15	Scott Pye	DJR Team Penske	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:52.1959	0:00.5401
16	James Moffat	Nissan Mororsport	Nissan Altima	0:52.2040	0:00.5482
17	Scott McLaughlin	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Volvo S60	0:52.2061	0:00.5503
18	Dale Wood	GB Galvanizing Racing	Holden Commodore VF	0:52.2363	0:00.5805
19	Rick Kelly	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima	0:52.2420	0:00.5862
20	Ashley Walsh	Erebus Motorsport V8	Mercedes E63 AMG	0:52.2641	0:00.6083
21	Michael Caruso	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima	0:52.2727	0:00.6169
22	Jason Bright	Team BOC	Holden Commodore VF	0:52.2829	0:00.6271
23	Nick Percat	Repair Management Aust Racing	Holden Commodore VF	0:52.3908	0:00.7350
24	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Volvo S60	0:52.4557	0:00.7999
25	Tim Blanchard	Team Cooldrive	Holden Commodore VF	0:52.6047	0:00.9489

* 2 place grid penalty

QUALIFYING: Race 5 – Symmons Plains

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap
1	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing Australia	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.6213*
2	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing Australia	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.7188	0:00.0975
3	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.7550	0:00.1337
4	David Reynolds	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.8263	0:00.2050
5	Andre Heimgartner	Super Black Racing	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.8336	0:00.2123
6	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.8663	0:00.2450
7	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.8817	0:00.2604
8	Scott McLaughlin	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Volvo S60	0:51.9132	0:00.2919
9	Will Davison	Erebus Motorsport V8	Mercedes E63 AMG	0:51.9332	0:00.3119
10	Shane van Gisbergen	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.9398	0:00.3185
11	Lee Holdsworth	Walkinshaw Racing	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.9442	0:00.3229
12	Todd Kelly	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima	0:51.9518	0:00.3305
13	Fabian Coulthard	Freightliner Racing	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.9520	0:00.3307
14	Chaz Mostert	Pepsi Max Crew	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.9531	0:00.3318
15	Tim Slade	Supercheap Auto Racing	Holden Commodore VF	0:51.9663	0:00.3450
16	Rick Kelly	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima	0:52.0023	0:00.3810
17	Jason Bright	Team BOC	Holden Commodore VF	0:52.0702	0:00.4489
18	Scott Pye	DJR Team Penske	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:52.1055	0:00.4842
19	Dale Wood	GB Galvanizing Racing	Holden Commodore VF	0:52.1556	0:00.5343
20	Ashley Walsh	Erebus Motorsport V8	Mercedes E63 AMG	0:52.2204	0:00.5991
21	James Moffat	Nissan Mororsport	Nissan Altima	0:52.2912	0:00.6699
22	Nick Percat	Repair Management Aust Racing	Holden Commodore VF	0:52.3292	0:00.7079
23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima	0:52.3578	0:00.7365
24	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Volvo S60	0:52.4435	0:00.8222
25	Tim Blanchard	Team Cooldrive	Holden Commodore VF	0:52.5512	0:00.9299