Jamie Whincup and Scott McLaughlin claimed the Armor All pole positions for today’s two races at the WD-40 Phillip Island Super Sprint.
The Red Bull and Volvo stars produced a blistering pace in both 10 minutes sessions at the Victorian circuit locking out the front row for this afternoon’s 14 lap races.
Title protagonists Mark Winterbottom, Craig Lowndes and David Reynolds will start both races inside the top five.
Qualifying Race 31
Whincup dominated the opening qualifying session with the Red Bull man never headed in the short sharp 10 minute hit out.
The six-time champion posted a 1:31.1s with his first effort before eventually improving his time by a tenth on his second run.
Red Bull team-mate Lowndes had held second spot for the majority of the running but was pipped at the end by McLaughlin who emerged just 0.09s adrift of Whincup.
Late efforts from Reynolds and Winterbottom saw the Prodrive pair claim fourth and fifth respectively while Tekno Autosports’ Shane van Gisbergen was sixth.
The Holden Racing Team’s James Courtney was seventh as Scott Pye and the Nissan duo of James Moffat and Rick Kelly completed the top 10.
Qualifying Race 32
The second qualifying session provided plenty of action with the fight for pole position typically intensifying as the session progressed.
Winterbottom had set the pace following his opening run but the championship leader was to be denied pole in the final minutes.
First Whincup, who recovered from an off track excursion at Lukey Heights, bettered the Falcon before McLaughlin’s last gasp 1:30.7s scored him pole by 0.08s.
Lowndes claimed another third place grid slot in the Red Bull Commodore, which will start alongside championship leader Winterbottom.
Reynolds was fifth fastest as Pye, Michael Caruso, Rick Kelly, Courtney and Fabian Coulthard rounded out the top 10.
It proved to be a closely fought session with 0.9s covering the top 18 runners.
Result: V8 Supercars WD-40 Phillip Island Super Sprint Race 31 Qualifying
| 1 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.0854*H | |
| 2 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 1:31.1757 H | 00.0903 |
| 3 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.2049 H | 00.1195 |
| 4 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:31.3284 H | 00.2430 |
| 5 | Pepsi Max Crew | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:31.4585 H | 00.3731 |
| 6 | Team Darrell Lea STIX | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.5069 H | 00.4215 |
| 7 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.5365 H | 00.4511 |
| 8 | DJR Team Penske | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:31.6459 H | 00.5605 |
| 9 | Nissan Motorsport | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | 1:31.7043 H | 00.6189 |
| 10 | Nissan Motorsport | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:31.7648 H | 00.6794 |
| 11 | Pepsi Max Crew | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:31.7701 H | 00.6847 |
| 12 | Nissan Motorsport | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:31.7863 H | 00.7009 |
| 13 | Freightliner Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.8370 H | 00.7516 |
| 14 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.8855 H | 00.8001 |
| 15 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.9101 H | 00.8247 |
| 16 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1:31.9862 H | 00.9008 |
| 17 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Will Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:32.0656 H | 00.9802 |
| 18 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 1:32.2414 H | 01.1560 |
| 19 | Walkinshaw Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 1:32.2962 H | 01.2108 |
| 20 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | David Wall | Volvo S60 | 1:32.3011 H | 01.2157 |
| 21 | Team Cooldrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:32.3777 H | 01.2923 |
| 22 | Super Black Racing | Chris Pither | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:32.4119 H | 01.3265 |
| 23 | GB Galvanizing Racing | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 1:32.4555 H | 01.3701 |
| 24 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Paul Dumbrell | Holden Commodore VF | 1:32.4837 H | 01.3983 |
| 25 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Dean Canto | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:32.5025 H | 01.4171 |
Result: V8 Supercars WD-40 Phillip Island Super Sprint Race 32 Qualifying
| 1 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 1:30.7531*H | |
| 2 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1:30.8429 H | 00.0898 |
| 3 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1:30.8923 H | 00.1392 |
| 4 | Pepsi Max Crew | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:30.9655 H | 00.2124 |
| 5 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:30.9816 H | 00.2285 |
| 6 | DJR Team Penske | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:30.9902 H | 00.2371 |
| 7 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1:31.0063 H | 00.2532 |
| 8 | Nissan Motorsport | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:31.1426 H | 00.3895 |
| 9 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.1585 H | 00.4054 |
| 10 | Freightliner Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.1614 H | 00.4083 |
| 11 | Team Darrell Lea STIX | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.2406 H | 00.4875 |
| 12 | Nissan Motorsport | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | 1:31.3127 H | 00.5596 |
| 13 | Pepsi Max Crew | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:31.4063 H | 00.6532 |
| 14 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.4989 H | 00.7458 |
| 15 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.5732 H | 00.8201 |
| 16 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.5753 H | 00.8222 |
| 17 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Will Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:31.5851 H | 00.8320 |
| 18 | Walkinshaw Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 1:31.6666 H | 00.9135 |
| 19 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Dean Canto | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:31.8870 H | 01.1339 |
| 20 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | David Wall | Volvo S60 | 1:31.9151 H | 01.1620 |
| 21 | Nissan Motorsport | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:31.9383 H | 01.1852 |
| 22 | GB Galvanizing Racing | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 1:32.0580 H | 01.3049 |
| 23 | Super Black Racing | Chris Pither | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:32.1062 H | 01.3531 |
| 24 | Team Cooldrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:32.1271 H | 01.3740 |
| 25 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Paul Dumbrell | Holden Commodore VF | 1:32.5531 H | 01.8000 |
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