Alex Davison has taken pole position for today’s 14th race of the V8 Supercars Championship Series at Hidden Valley Raceway for the Skycity Triple Crown.
After a difficult season, the IRWIN Racing driver turned around his fortunes with a brilliant lap, taking his first-ever V8 Supercars pole position. Davison qualified 25th yesterday and finished 15th.
The circuit seems to be a happy hunting ground for Davison, who finished second in last year’s Sunday race.
“I’m stunned. I didn’t think I was going to be on pole today. I’m so happy for everyone,” said Alex Davison.
“We’ve had some pretty disappointing days this year; it’s a great reward for the team, for IRWIN, for Ford. I’ll allow us five minutes to enjoy it and then turn the focus to the race.
“I was trying as hard as I could. You never focus on what the result is, you concentrate on putting a lap together. I saw the lap time on the console and thought it wasn’t bad. I knew we were in first at that point, but there was plenty of time still on the clock, I thought we’d at least end up in the top 10. ”
“We’ve got the IRWIN Ford handling so much better today although I’m sure some people will say that I remembered how to drive all of a sudden. There you go, zero to hero.”
TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup will start alongside Davison, taking second place.
Third place went to yesterday’s race winner Mark Winterbottom (Orrcon Steel FPR) ahead of Todd Kelly (Jack Daniel’s Racing), James Courtney (Jim Beam Racing), Rick Kelly (Jack Daniel’s Racing), Craig Lowndes (TeamVodafone), Lee Holdsworth (Fujitsu Racing), Steve Johnson (Jim Beam Racing) and Shane van Gisbergen (SP Tools Racing).
The session was red flagged for a period when Daniel Gaunt (Gulf Western Oils Racing) collected the tyre wall at turn 10.
Today’s race starts at 3.35pm.
| 1 | 4 | Alex Davison | 1:10.0614* |
| 2 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | 1:10.0616 |
| 3 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | 1:10.0715 |
| 4 | 7 | Todd Kelly | 1:10.1625 |
| 5 | 18 | James Courtney | 1:10.2811 |
| 6 | 15 | Rick Kelly | 1:10.3177 |
| 7 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | 1:10.3898 |
| 8 | 33 | Lee Holdsworth | 1:10.4539 |
| 9 | 17 | Steven Johnson | 1:10.4778 |
| 10 | 9 | Shane Van Gisbergen | 1:10.4898 |
| 11 | 22 | Will Davison | 1:10.5069 |
| 12 | 2 | Garth Tander | 1:10.5106 |
| 13 | 14 | Jason Bright | 1:10.5665 |
| 14 | 47 | Tim Slade | 1:10.5784 |
| 15 | 19 | Jonathon Webb | 1:10.5957 |
| 16 | 3 | Tony D’Alberto | 1:10.6069 |
| 17 | 24 | Fabian Coulthard | 1:10.6329 |
| 18 | 55 | Paul Dumbrell | 1:10.6346 |
| 19 | 12 | Dean Fiore | 1:10.6393 |
| 20 | 51 | Greg Murphy | 1:10.6501 |
| 21 | 8 | Jason Richards | 1:10.6527 |
| 22 | 6 | Steven Richards | 1:10.6908 |
| 23 | 39 | Russell Ingall | 1:10.6950 |
| 24 | 11 | Jason Bargwanna | 1:10.7901 |
| 25 | 34 | Michael Caruso | 1:10.8265 |
| 26 | 10 | Andrew Thompson | 1:10.8398 |
| 27 | 21 | Karl Reindler | 1:11.4110 |
| 28 | 16 | Tony Ricciardello | 1:11.5766 |
| 29 | 30 | Daniel Gaunt | 1:10.0614* |
