Norton Hornets Nissan driver James Moffat unleashed a powerful lap to claim his maiden V8 Supercars Armor All pole position for Race 25.
Moffat launched in the dying minutes of qualifying to establish a 1:09.15s lap ahead of the Coates Hire Ipswich 400 final race.
His previous best qualifying effort was second at the Gold Coast 600 last year.
“I just managed to get it all together and the car was driving a lot better,” said Moffat.
“I don’t feel like I’m driving any better than yesterday but somehow we managed to get it on pole.
“Its an excellent effort from everybody in the team.
Buy tickets
“We got the #36 guys to thanks as we basically picked out their setup as much as we could.”
After a flurry of activity after the chequered flag, James Courtney put his #22 Holden Racing Team Commodore second with a 1:09.33s lap.
Scott McLaughlin, who assumed the top of the order with 11 minutes of the 20 minute session remaining, could not better his earlier time of 1:09.36s and will start third.
In what appears to be an interesting starting order for the 200km race, Nick Percat (HHA/Coates Hire Commodore) was fourth fastest ahead of the dual Queensland Raceway sprint race winner Jamie Whincup (Red Bull Commodore).
Ford Performance Racing’s Chaz Mostert had slotted into a top three berth earlier but eventually was shuffled back to sixth, just ahead of Moffat’s Nissan team-mate Michael Caruso.
FPR leader Mark Winterbottom was eighth ahead of Craig Lowndes (Red Bull Commodore) with Erebus driver Will Davison completing the top 10 for the 65-lap race as the threat of showers hovered over the Ipswich circuit.
Race 25 Qualifying Result
| 1 | Norton Hornets | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | 1:09.15 | |
| 2 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.33 | 00.18 |
| 3 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 1:09.36 | 00.20 |
| 4 | Walkinshaw Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.39 | 00.24 |
| 5 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.42 | 00.27 |
| 6 | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.42 | 00.27 |
| 7 | Norton Hornets | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1:09.44 | 00.29 |
| 8 | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.48 | 00.33 |
| 9 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.50 | 00.34 |
| 10 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Will Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:09.52 | 00.37 |
| 11 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:09.52 | 00.37 |
| 12 | Wilson Security Racing | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.57 | 00.42 |
| 13 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.61 | 00.45 |
| 14 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.63 | 00.48 |
| 15 | Team Tekno VIP Petfoods | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.64 | 00.48 |
| 16 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.65 | 00.49 |
| 17 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.69 | 00.54 |
| 18 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.71 | 00.55 |
| 19 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:09.75 | 00.59 |
| 20 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Lee Holdsworth | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:09.80 | 00.65 |
| 21 | Team JELD-WEN | Jack Perkins | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.98 | 00.83 |
| 22 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Robert Dahlgren | Volvo S60 | 1:10.13 | 00.97 |
| 23 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.13 | 00.97 |
| 24 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.16 | 01.01 |
| 25 | Team Advam/GB | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.22 | 01.06 |
Discussion about this post