Jamie Whincup will start both Saturday races at the Skycity Triple Crown in Darwin from pole position after Red Bull Racing Australia asserted its authority in qualifying.
Without a pole at the Hidden Valley circuit prior to today, Whincup came out on top in both 10 minute sessions to bring his season Armor All Pole Award tally to a class leading six.
The grid was set by just a single green tyre run in each of the short hit-outs due to the thin tyre allocation this weekend.
Whincup’s first lap proved his best on both occasions, running a 1:10.13s in Race 17 qualifying before improving to a 1:09.87s in the second session.
Team-mate Craig Lowndes was third and second in the respective sessions, going to the top in the latter before immediately being edged by Whincup.
Scott McLaughin had earlier beaten Lowndes to second in the Race 17 order, with fourth through 10th filled by Shane van Gisbergen, Garth Tander, Mark Winterbottom, Lee Holdsworth, Jason Bright, Fabian Coulthard and James Courtney.
Coulthard was the biggest improver in the second session, jumping to third ahead of Winterbottom, McLaughlin, Tander, Courtney, Van Gisbergen, Bright and Dale Wood.
The Nissans narrowly missed out on joining their Holden, Volvo, Ford and Nissans rivals in scoring a top 10, recording bests of 12th (James Moffat) and 11th (Michael Caruso) in the respective sessions.
Rick and Todd Kelly however struggled and will start in the bottom half of the field for both encounters.
Jack Perkins endured an even more difficult time of it in FPR’s Jeld-Wen Ford, ending up slowest in both sessions.
Race 17 will kick-off at 1420 local time, followed by Race 18 at 1630.
QUALIFYING RACE 17
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Difference |
| 1 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Red Bull Racing Australia | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.1360 | |
| 2 | 33 | Scott McLaughlin | Valvoline Racing GRM | Volvo S60 | 1:10.1532 | 0:00.0172 |
| 3 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Red Bull Racing Australia | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.3821 | 0:00.2461 |
| 4 | 97 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Team Tekno VIP Petfoods | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.4058 | 0:00.2698 |
| 5 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.4698 | 0:00.3338 |
| 6 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.5505 | 0:00.4145 |
| 7 | 4 | Lee Holdsworth | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:10.5870 | 0:00.4510 |
| 8 | 8 | Jason Bright | Team BOC | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.5946 | 0:00.4586 |
| 9 | 14 | Fabian Coulthard | Lockwood Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.6016 | 0:00.4656 |
| 10 | 22 | James Courtney | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.6218 | 0:00.4858 |
| 11 | 55 | David Reynolds | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.7081 | 0:00.5721 |
| 12 | 360 | James Moffat | Norton Hornets | Nissan Altima | 1:10.7161 | 0:00.5801 |
| 13 | 6 | Chaz Mostert | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.7298 | 0:00.5938 |
| 14 | 36 | Michael Caruso | Norton Hornets | Nissan Altima | 1:10.7460 | 0:00.6100 |
| 15 | 9 | Will Davison | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:10.7802 | 0:00.6442 |
| 16 | 16 | Scott Pye | Wilson Security Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.7996 | 0:00.6636 |
| 17 | 47 | Tim Slade | Supercheap Auto Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.8218 | 0:00.6858 |
| 18 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Nissan Altima | 1:10.9068 | 0:00.7708 |
| 19 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Nissan Altima | 1:10.9171 | 0:00.7811 |
| 20 | 17 | David Wall | Wilson Security Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.9434 | 0:00.8074 |
| 21 | 21 | Dale Wood | Team Advam/GB | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.9653 | 0:00.8293 |
| 22 | 23 | Russell Ingall | Repair Management Aust Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.0902 | 0:00.9542 |
| 23 | 34 | Robert Dahlgren | Valvoline Racing GRM | Volvo S60 | 1:11.0962 | 0:00.9602 |
| 24 | 222 | Nick Percat | Walkinshaw Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.1075 | 0:00.9715 |
| 25 | 18 | Jack Perkins | Team JELD-WEN | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.5102 | 0:01.3742 |
QUALIFYING RACE 18
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Difference |
| 1 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Red Bull Racing Australia | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.8711 | |
| 2 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Red Bull Racing Australia | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.9706 | 0:00.0995 |
| 3 | 14 | Fabian Coulthard | Lockwood Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.0709 | 0:00.1998 |
| 4 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.1808 | 0:00.3097 |
| 5 | 33 | Scott McLaughlin | Valvoline Racing GRM | Volvo S60 | 1:10.2288 | 0:00.3577 |
| 6 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.2531 | 0:00.3820 |
| 7 | 22 | James Courtney | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.2593 | 0:00.3882 |
| 8 | 97 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Team Tekno VIP Petfoods | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.2623 | 0:00.3912 |
| 9 | 8 | Jason Bright | Team BOC | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.2714 | 0:00.4003 |
| 10 | 21 | Dale Wood | Team Advam/GB | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.3119 | 0:00.4408 |
| 11 | 36 | Michael Caruso | Norton Hornets | Nissan Altima | 1:10.4061 | 0:00.5350 |
| 12 | 9 | Will Davison | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:10.4411 | 0:00.5700 |
| 13 | 4 | Lee Holdsworth | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:10.4613 | 0:00.5902 |
| 14 | 47 | Tim Slade | Supercheap Auto Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.4930 | 0:00.6219 |
| 15 | 55 | David Reynolds | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.5000 | 0:00.6289 |
| 16 | 6 | Chaz Mostert | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.5019 | 0:00.6308 |
| 17 | 360 | James Moffat | Norton Hornets | Nissan Altima | 1:10.5406 | 0:00.6695 |
| 18 | 16 | Scott Pye | Wilson Security Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.5880 | 0:00.7169 |
| 19 | 17 | David Wall | Wilson Security Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.7705 | 0:00.8994 |
| 20 | 222 | Nick Percat | Walkinshaw Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.7782 | 0:00.9071 |
| 21 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Nissan Altima | 1:10.7986 | 0:00.9275 |
| 22 | 34 | Robert Dahlgren | Valvoline Racing GRM | Volvo S60 | 1:10.8157 | 0:00.9446 |
| 23 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Nissan Altima | 1:10.9551 | 0:01.0840 |
| 24 | 23 | Russell Ingall | Repair Management Aust Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.1081 | 0:01.2370 |
| 25 | 18 | Jack Perkins | Team JELD-WEN | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.3239 | 0:01.4528 |
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