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Surprise pole sitters as stars crash in qualifying

6 Dec 2014

Surprise pole sitters as stars crash in qualifying

Will Davison celebrates pole for Race 36

Will Davison and Jason Bright have shared the Armor All Pole Awards in a dramatic pair of qualifying sessions on the streets of Sydney Olympic Park.

The first 10 minute hit-out, setting the grid for Race 36, saw Marcos Ambrose and Craig Lowndes crash at Turn 5 in separate incidents.

Ambrose broke the right-front of his Falcon after tagging the outside wall, while Lowndes slammed the same barrier seconds later, causing major damage to his Holden.

Despite the severity of the latter’s hit, both cars are expected to return for this afternoon’s pair of 125km races.

“I’m feeling fine, but I’m just disappointed,” said Lowndes of his crash.

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“The car was hooked up, we had a good first sector and I just turned in, clipped the inside kerb and it fired me across.”

Ambrose’s crash was meanwhile attributed to a misjudged downshift, which unsettled the back of the Xbox Ford, sending it into the wall.

Davison had set his best time just seconds prior to the red flag stoppage, which came with a minute remaining.

With no time for any further flying laps, officials elected not to restart the session, handing Erebus its first ever pole.

“In terms of a stat I’m just rapt for the team,” said Davison afterwards. “It’s really special to be able to deliver that for them.”

Jamie Whincup will start second in Race 36 ahead of David Reynolds, Tim Slade and David Wall.

The result was a solid boost for Erebus after a failure in morning practice saw Lee Holdsworth hit the Turn 5 concrete, ensuring he missed both qualifying sessions.

Despite a cleaner run the second session again provided a surprise result, with Bright out-gunning Shane van Gisbergen, Scott McLaughlin and Whincup to pole.

Bright recorded a 1:27.79s best with just seconds remaining; a time that Van Gisbergen subsequently fell short of by 0.08s.

“It’s been a challenging weekend so far. It’s a wild joint and we didn’t feel we’d be reaching our potential that we had last year,” said Bright.

“The car has been strong but I’ve been getting too much air off some of the kerbs. I drove it pretty straight then and just punched out a pretty good number.”

Race 36 is scheduled to get underway at 1430 local time.

Result: V8 Supercars Race 36 qualifying, Sydney

1	Erebus Motorsport V8	Will Davison	Mercedes E63 AMG	01:28.76
2	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	01:28.82	00:00.05
3	The Bottle-O Racing Team	David Reynolds	Ford Falcon FG	01:28.83	00:00.06
4	Supercheap Auto Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	01:28.98	00:00.22
5	Wilson Security Racing	David Wall	Ford Falcon FG	01:29.08	00:00.31
6	Valvoline Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60	01:29.11	00:00.34
7	Jack Daniel's Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	01:29.13	00:00.36
8	Ford Pepsi Max Crew	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG	01:29.19	00:00.42
9	Lockwood Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VF	01:29.22	00:00.45
10	Ford Pepsi Max Crew	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG	01:29.26	00:00.50
11	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	01:29.34	00:00.57
12	Jack Daniel's Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	01:29.34	00:00.58
13	Team JELD-WEN	Jack Perkins	Ford Falcon FG	01:29.37	00:00.61
14	Norton Hornets	James Moffat	Nissan Altima	01:29.38	00:00.62
15	Team Advam/GB	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	01:29.90	00:01.14
16	Valvoline Racing GRM	Robert Dahlgren	Volvo S60	01:30.12	00:01.36
17	Norton Hornets	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	01:30.83	00:02.06
18	Team Tekno VIP Petfoods	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	01:32.54	00:03.78
19	Walkinshaw Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	01:32.88	00:04.12
20	Red Bull Racing Australia	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	01:35.77	00:07.01
21	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	01:36.51	00:07.75
22	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	01:37.71	00:08.95
23	Wilson Security Racing	Scott Pye	Ford Falcon FG	01:40.15	00:11.38
24	XBOX Racing DJR	Marcos Ambrose	Ford Falcon FG	03:58.27	02:29.51
25	Repair Management Aust Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden Commodore VF		03:20.78

Result: V8 Supercars Race 37 qualifying, Sydney

1	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	01:27.79
2	Team Tekno VIP Petfoods	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	01:27.87	00:00.08
3	Valvoline Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60	01:27.91	00:00.12
4	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	01:27.92	00:00.14
5	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	01:28.10	00:00.31
6	Ford Pepsi Max Crew	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG	01:28.27	00:00.48
7	The Bottle-O Racing Team	David Reynolds	Ford Falcon FG	01:28.31	00:00.52
8	Supercheap Auto Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	01:28.35	00:00.56
9	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	01:28.47	00:00.68
10	Lockwood Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VF	01:28.54	00:00.75
11	Wilson Security Racing	Scott Pye	Ford Falcon FG	01:28.56	00:00.77
12	Ford Pepsi Max Crew	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG	01:28.57	00:00.78
13	Walkinshaw Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	01:28.60	00:00.81
14	Jack Daniel's Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	01:28.62	00:00.83
15	Jack Daniel's Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	01:28.68	00:00.89
16	Norton Hornets	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	01:28.76	00:00.97
17	Team Advam/GB	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	01:28.82	00:01.03
18	Erebus Motorsport V8	Will Davison	Mercedes E63 AMG	01:28.83	00:01.04
19	Repair Management Aust Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden Commodore VF	01:28.95	00:01.17
20	Norton Hornets	James Moffat	Nissan Altima	01:29.03	00:01.24
21	Wilson Security Racing	David Wall	Ford Falcon FG	01:29.07	00:01.28
22	Valvoline Racing GRM	Robert Dahlgren	Volvo S60	01:29.08	00:01.29
23	Team JELD-WEN	Jack Perkins	Ford Falcon FG	01:29.38	00:01.59

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