Jamie Whincup has scored his second pole position of the weekend ahead of Race 23 at the Armor All Gold Coast 600 following a qualifying session punctuated by five red flags.
The TeamVodafone driver set his fastest time of 1:11.11s prior to the final red flag, with no one able to go faster than that benchmark in a frantic final five minutes of running.
The pole is Whincup’s sixth of the season, and earns him an additional $10,000 offered by Armor All to any driver that could take both poles over the Gold Coast weekend.
Mark Winterbottom was also unable to improve in the final minutes but had done enough to secure second.
Jonathon Webb and Will Davison set their fastest times on their final laps to take third and fourth respectively, demoting Rick Kelly to fifth.
James Courtney, Craig Lowndes, Steve Owen, James Moffat, Shane van Gisbergen and Tim Slade filled sixth through 10th.
Yesterday’s fourth-placed finisher Garth Tander could manage just 12th, while others to struggle included David Reynolds in 17th and Michael Caruso in 21st.
Three of the red flags during the session were called for mirror debris at the exit of Turn 11, while one was to replace a tyre bundle that had been dislodged from Turn 1. The tyres were introduced to the circuit this morning after the controversy yesterday over drivers “blatantly overusing” the apex kerb.
The final stoppage was called for an accident at Turn 12 that saw Michael Patrizi’s Tekno Holden make heavy contact with the outside wall. Patrizi had been trying to pass Jason Bright around the outside when the accident occurred.
The Team BOC Holden had been returning to the pits at a reduced pace after buckling its right-side wheels against the inner kerb at Turn 10 when Bright miscued through the chicane.
Just 25 cars competed in the session after yesterday’s startline pile-ups ruled the Tony D’Alberto/Tonio Liuzzi, Karl Reindler/Franck Montagny and Greg Ritter/Ricky Taylor entries out of the weekend.
See below for the full qualifying result
| 1 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.1077 | |
| 2 | M.Winterbottom/W.Power | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.2532 | 0:00.1455 |
| 3 | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.3217 | 0:00.2140 |
| 4 | W.Davison/M.Salo | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.3444 | 0:00.2367 |
| 5 | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.3727 | 0:00.2650 |
| 6 | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.5920 | 0:00.4843 |
| 7 | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.7332 | 0:00.6255 |
| 8 | Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.7685 | 0:00.6608 |
| 9 | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.7922 | 0:00.6845 |
| 10 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.8403 | 0:00.7326 |
| 11 | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.8832 | 0:00.7755 |
| 12 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.9025 | 0:00.7948 |
| 13 | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.9398 | 0:00.8321 |
| 14 | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.9476 | 0:00.8399 |
| 15 | L.Holdsworth/S.Pagenaud | Ford Falcon FG | 1:12.0008 | 0:00.8931 |
| 16 | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.0081 | 0:00.9004 |
| 17 | D.Reynolds/N.Heidfeld | Ford Falcon FG | 1:12.0447 | 0:00.9370 |
| 18 | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.0458 | 0:00.9381 |
| 19 | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:12.0574 | 0:00.9497 |
| 20 | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.0695 | 0:00.9618 |
| 21 | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.1201 | 0:01.0124 |
| 22 | Michael Patrizi | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.4186 | 0:01.3109 |
| 23 | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.6142 | 0:01.5065 |
| 24 | Greg Murphy | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.6882 | 0:01.5805 |
| 25 | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.0722 | 0:01.9645 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Armor All Gold Coast 600 Race Guide
