Whincup hands Dumbrell pole for co-driver race

Paul Dumbrell will start the first of two qualifying races at the Wilson Security Sandown 500 from pole position after Jamie Whincup topped qualifying in the #1 Red Bull Holden.

A 20 minute qualifying session set the grid for the co-driver sprint race, scheduled to take place over 20 laps.

The result of the co-driver race will then set the grid for a 20 lap primary driver sprint, which will in turn determine the starting order for Sunday’s 500.

Whincup completed the qualifying session with a scintillating three-lap run that saw him improve the benchmark time on each occasion.

The five-time champion’s eventual best of 1:08.57s knocked the Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander to second moments prior to the chequered flag.

The HRT Commodore had narrowly escaped disaster earlier in the session, with Tander managing to drive his way out of the Turn 9 gravel trap after a lock-up.

Scott McLaughlin wound up third having temporarily moved to the top with his single-lap run on his final set of tyres.

Mark Winterbottom was a late improver to shoot into fourth ahead of Tander’s Walkinshaw stable-mates James Courtney and Tim Slade.

Shane van Gisbergen, David Reynolds, Craig Lowndes and Todd Kelly completed the top 10.

Just 0.2s covered the top 10 before the final green tyre runs, after which the margin had grown to 0.6s.

Rick Kelly managed 14^th in his Jack Daniel’s Nissan despite damaging the right-front of his Altima against the Turn 4 exit wall late in the session.

The Erebus Mercedes-AMGs of Will Davison and Lee Holdsworth managed just 15^th and 17^th respectively.

Both cars are running the team’s regular specification engine after electing to remove an upgraded unit from Davison’s car on Friday night.

James Moffat’s Nissan, which qualified 21^st, is meanwhile scheduled to receive a new engine prior to the co-driver qualifying race due to a reliability concern.

The co-driver qualifying race is set to start at 1445.

Result: V8 Supercars qualifying, Sandown

1

Red Bull Racing Australia

Jamie Whincup

Holden Commodore VF

01:08.57

2

Holden Racing Team

Garth Tander

Holden Commodore VF

01:08.73

00:00.15

3

Valvoline Racing GRM

Scott McLaughlin

Volvo S60

01:08.78

00:00.21

4

Ford Pepsi Max Crew

Mark Winterbottom

Ford Falcon FG

01:08.88

00:00.30

5

Holden Racing Team

James Courtney

Holden Commodore VF

01:08.89

00:00.32

6

Supercheap Auto Racing

Tim Slade

Holden Commodore VF

01:08.95

00:00.38

7

Team Tekno VIP Petfoods

Shane Van Gisbergen

Holden Commodore VF

01:08.96

00:00.39

8

The Bottle-O Racing Team

David Reynolds

Ford Falcon FG

01:09.05

00:00.48

9

Red Bull Racing Australia

Craig Lowndes

Holden Commodore VF

01:09.08

00:00.51

10

Jack Daniel's Racing

Todd Kelly

Nissan Altima

01:09.14

00:00.57

11

Walkinshaw Racing

Nick Percat

Holden Commodore VF

01:09.17

00:00.59

12

Team BOC

Jason Bright

Holden Commodore VF

01:09.20

00:00.63

13

Norton Hornets

Michael Caruso

Nissan Altima

01:09.21

00:00.64

14

Jack Daniel's Racing

Rick Kelly

Nissan Altima

01:09.23

00:00.66

15

Erebus Motorsport V8

Will Davison

Mercedes E63 AMG

01:09.26

00:00.69

16

Ford Pepsi Max Crew

Chaz Mostert

Ford Falcon FG

01:09.26

00:00.69

17

Erebus Motorsport V8

Lee Holdsworth

Mercedes E63 AMG

01:09.27

00:00.70

18

Lockwood Racing

Fabian Coulthard

Holden Commodore VF

01:09.40

00:00.83

19

Wilson Security Racing

Scott Pye

Ford Falcon FG

01:09.45

00:00.88

20

Repair Management Aust Racing

Russell Ingall

Holden Commodore VF

01:09.47

00:00.90

21

Norton Hornets

James Moffat

Nissan Altima

01:09.48

00:00.91

22

Valvoline Racing GRM

Robert Dahlgren

Volvo S60

01:09.49

00:00.92

23

Team Advam/GB

Dale Wood

Holden Commodore VF

01:09.58

00:01.01

24

Team JELD-WEN

Jack Perkins

Ford Falcon FG

01:09.71

00:01.13

25

Wilson Security Racing

David Wall

Ford Falcon FG

01:09.78

00:01.21