Lee Holdsworth will start Race 25 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series on pole position after a thrilling top 10 shootout in Sydney.
The Fujitsu Racing Commodore was the fourth car out in the session, after Holdsworth’s final lap in qualifying this morning ended with contact with the concrete wall at Turn 11.
Holdsworth’s shootout lap had to withstand a late challenge from Jamie Whincup (TeamVodafone), who was fastest to the end of the second sector before dropping to third behind Holdsworth and Mark Winterbottom.
Winterbottom’s effort was just 0.9s slower than Holdsworth’s, and was enough to give the Orrcon Steel driver his 17th top three start of the season.
Michael Caruso (Fujitsu Racing) will share the second row with Whincup, ahead of Tim Slade (Wilson Security Racing), James Courtney (Jim Beam Racing), Todd Kelly (Jack Daniel’s Racing), Alex Davison (IRWIN Racing), Russell Ingall (Supercheap Auto Racing) and Shane van Gisbergen (SP Tools Racing).
van Gisbergen’s lap included the rear of the blue Falcon brushing the wall at Turn 8, before a trip down the Turn 11 escape road ruined any chance of a higher position.
Russell Ingall also endured a wild ride – narrowly avoiding the Turn 8 wall after a big slide.
While pole-sitter Holdsworth ran his lap under threatening skies with his windscreen wiper on, rain did not effect the session.
The 74 lap, 250km, opening leg of the Sydney Telstra 500 is due to commence at 14:25 local time.
For Speedcafe’s report on this morning’s qualifying session, CLICK HERE.
