A two-place grid penalty for impeding James Courtney has denied Will Davison pole position for Race 5 of the V8 Supercars Championship at Symmons Plains.
Davison set the fastest time of the 30 minute session, shooting to the top with a 51.02s best just 30 seconds from the chequered flag.
The Tekno driver, however, was immediately docked two spots for blocking Courtney at the beginning of the final run.
Courtney was forced to slow and squeeze down the inside of the slow moving Davison on the run to Turn 4 as he began his first flying lap.
The penalty sees Mark Winterbottom on pole for the second consecutive day, sharing the front-row with Race 4 winner Shane van Gisbergen.
“I had no idea he was there,” said Davison.
“The last time I looked in the mirror I had three cars who came out of the pits behind me very slowly.
“We got pole, we had the fastest car so I’m really happy with the lap I did to get the pole position.
“There was no blocking on my behalf. It’s as simple as that.”
Courtney ended up 19th but refused to blame the incident for his struggles.
“It didn’t really cost us much,” Courtney shrugged.
“The car is embarrassing really, it’s nowhere near where it should be. We just wobbled around at the back.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to find out what’s going on. Something in the rear is just not gelling with the front. It’s puzzling.”
Davison will share the second row with Jamie Whincup, while Lee Holdsworth backed up his Saturday qualifying speed with fifth.
Whincup had led Davison, Chaz Mostert, Winterbottom and Van Gisbergen ahead of the final tyre run, where the six-time champion and eventual sixth placed man Mostert both failed to improve.
Jason Bright, Fabian Coulthard, Scott McLaughlin and Cameron Waters complete the top 10, while Craig Lowndes could manage no better than 11th.
The 200km Race 5 is scheduled for 1405 local time.
Result: V8 Supercars Tyrepower Tasmania Super Sprint Race 5 Qualifying
1 | Team Darrell Lea STIX | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 51.0177*S | |
2 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 51.0773 S | 00.0596 |
3 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 51.1934 S | 00.1757 |
4 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 51.1986 S | 00.1809 |
5 | Preston Hire Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 51.2104 S | 00.1927 |
6 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG/X | 51.2133 S | 00.1956 |
7 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 51.2266 S | 00.2089 |
8 | DJR Team Penske | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG/X | 51.2732 S | 00.2555 |
9 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 51.2799 S | 00.2622 |
10 | Monster Energy Racing | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 51.2914 S | 00.2737 |
11 | TeamVortex | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 51.2970 S | 00.2793 |
12 | Sengled Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 51.3114 S | 00.2937 |
13 | Team Cooldrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 51.3575 S | 00.3398 |
14 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | James Moffat | Volvo S60 | 51.3777 S | 00.3600 |
15 | DJR Team Penske | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG/X | 51.4496 S | 00.4319 |
16 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 51.4591 S | 00.4414 |
17 | Freightliner Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 51.4697 S | 00.4520 |
18 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 51.4904 S | 00.4727 |
19 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 51.4930 S | 00.4753 |
20 | Super Black Racing | Chris Pither | Ford Falcon FG/X | 51.5837 S | 00.5660 |
21 | carsales Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 51.5972 S | 00.5795 |
22 | Erebus Motorsport Penrite | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VF | 51.6323 S | 00.6146 |
23 | Team GB Galvanizing | Dale Wood | Nissan Altima | 51.6542 S | 00.6365 |
24 | ABRO/Repair Management Aust Racing | Andre Heimgartner | Holden Commodore VF | 51.6950 S | 00.6773 |
25 | ARBO/Repair Management Aust Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 51.7151 S | 00.6974 |
26 | Plus Fitness Racing | Aaren Russell | Holden Commodore VF | 51.9052 S | 00.88 |
* Two spot penalty for Will Davison for impeding James Courtney