Jamie Whincup will start tomorrow’s qualifying race for the MSS Security V8 Supercars Challenge from pole position.
The TeamVodafone driver completed just two runs in this evening’s 30 minute qualifying session – one on each compound of tyre.
Whincup set his best time of 1:55.08s with 18 minutes remaining, and did not return to the track for the rest of the session.
Mark Winterbottom will also start on the front row having briefly headed the charts prior to Whincup’s effort.
Shane van Gisbergen, Will Davison, Craig Lowndes, Garth Tander, Tony D’Alberto, David Reynolds, Michael Caruso and Rick Kelly round out the top 10.
The session ended in abrupt circumstances when the red flags were called with 2:30 remaining due to the Turn 4 tyre bundle having been dislodged.
With practice run on each car’s pre-marked hard tyres, qualifying on the softer compound provided a challenge for the teams.
“It’s a really good feeling on the soft tyres around here, especially at night when the track temperature goes down – the grip level was massive,” said Whincup after the session.
“My car was pretty good, the guys did a good job of guessing how much grip we’d have.”
A 13 lap ‘qualifying race’ will take place at 1100 tomorrow prior to the first MSS Security V8 Supercars Challenge points scoring event of the weekend at 1420.
See below for the full qualifying result
| 1 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:55.0805 | |
| 2 | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:55.5648 | 0:00.4843 |
| 3 | SP Tools Racing | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:55.6802 | 0:00.5997 |
| 4 | Trading Post FPR Ford | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 1:55.7447 | 0:00.6642 |
| 5 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:55.9304 | 0:00.8499 |
| 6 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:56.2841 | 0:01.2036 |
| 7 | Tony D’Alberto Racing | Tony D’Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 1:56.3597 | 0:01.2792 |
| 8 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:56.3928 | 0:01.3123 |
| 9 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:56.4374 | 0:01.3569 |
| 10 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:56.5473 | 0:01.4668 |
| 11 | Lucky 7 Racing | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 1:56.6163 | 0:01.5358 |
| 12 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:56.7128 | 0:01.6323 |
| 13 | Irwin Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Ford Falcon FG | 1:56.7776 | 0:01.6971 |
| 14 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:56.8335 | 0:01.7530 |
| 15 | Pepsi Max Crew | Greg Murphy | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:56.8517 | 0:01.7712 |
| 16 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:56.8732 | 0:01.7927 |
| 17 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:56.8746 | 0:01.7941 |
| 18 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:56.9799 | 0:01.8994 |
| 19 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:57.1641 | 0:02.0836 |
| 20 | V.I.P. Petfoods | Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:57.1884 | 0:02.1079 |
| 21 | Tekno Autosports | Michael Patrizi | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:57.2053 | 0:02.1248 |
| 22 | Team iSelect | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:57.2456 | 0:02.1651 |
| 23 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:57.2615 | 0:02.1810 |
| 24 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:57.3541 | 0:02.2736 |
| 25 | Jim Beam Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:57.4308 | 0:02.3503 |
| 26 | Team Norton DJR | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:57.4325 | 0:02.3520 |
| 27 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:57.6749 | 0:02.5944 |
| 28 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:58.2898 | 0:03.2093 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Australian Grand Prix Race Guide
