Jamie Whincup has edged Jonathon Webb to pole position at Sydney Motorsport Park, setting the first sub 1 minute 30s V8 Supercars lap around the western Sydney circuit.
Tekno Autosport’s Webb looked set for his maiden pole in the dying stage before the TeamVodafone championship leader pipped Webb by 0.01s.
Whincup’s pole time ahead of this afternoon’s Race 18 was more than a second faster that Mark Skaife’s previous qualifying lap record of 1m30.6556s.
The opening 15 minutes of the 20 minute session saw teams roll around on old hard tyres, with Michael Patrizi and David Wall leading the pack. Teams launched into their fast laps with five minutes remaining, with all bar three cars in the 28 car field setting times under Skaife’s 13-year-old qualifying benchmark.
Ford Performance Racing’s Will Davison will start third, but will rue an off track moment at the final corner of his fast lap, potentially costing his pole.
Local Fujitsu Racing driver Michael Caruso will start a season-best fourth ahead of Mark Winterbottom, Craig Lowndes, David Reynolds, Shane van Gisbergen, Tony D’Alberto and Russell Ingall.
Wall produced one of his season best qualifying efforts and will start 19th.
IRWIN Racing’s Lee Holdsworth will start a disappointing 25th after failing to get a new tyre gain.
Former F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve, competing in his last confirmed V8 Supercars drive for Kelly Racing’s Pepsi Max-sponsored entry, will start from last place.
Race 18 of the championship starts at 1605.
V8 Supercars, Race 18 Qualifying results
| 1 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:29.6353R | + |
| 2 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:29.6542r | 0:00.0189 |
| 3 | Trading Post FPR Ford | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 1:29.6894r | 0:00.0541 |
| 4 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:29.7370r | 0:00.1017 |
| 5 | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:29.7468r | 0:00.1115 |
| 6 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:29.7641r | 0:00.1288 |
| 7 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:29.7829r | 0:00.1476 |
| 8 | SP Tools Racing | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:29.9396r | 0:00.3043 |
| 9 | Team Hiflex | Tony D’Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 1:29.9510r | 0:00.3157 |
| 10 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:29.9526r | 0:00.3173 |
| 11 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:29.9807r | 0:00.3454 |
| 12 | Tekno Autosports | Michael Patrizi | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:30.0689r | 0:00.4336 |
| 13 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:30.1302r | 0:00.4949 |
| 14 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:30.1671r | 0:00.5318 |
| 15 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:30.1905r | 0:00.5552 |
| 16 | Lucky 7 Racing | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 1:30.2021r | 0:00.5668 |
| 17 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:30.2100r | 0:00.5747 |
| 18 | VIP Petfoods | Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:30.2398r | 0:00.6045 |
| 19 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:30.2500r | 0:00.6147 |
| 20 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:30.3084r | 0:00.6731 |
| 21 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:30.3189r | 0:00.6836 |
| 22 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:30.3426r | 0:00.7073 |
| 23 | Team iSelect | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:30.3984r | 0:00.7631 |
| 24 | Team Norton DJR | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:30.4082r | 0:00.7729 |
| 25 | Irwin Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Ford Falcon FG | 1:30.4207r | 0:00.7854 |
| 26 | Jim Beam Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:30.6315 | 0:00.9962 |
| 27 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:31.7641 | 0:02.1288 |
| 28 | Pepsi Max Crew | Jaques Villeneuve | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.1148 | 0:02.4795 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Sydney Motorsport Park 360 Race Guide.
