Jamie Whincup has taken provisional pole position for Race 23 of the V8 Supercars Championship Series at Sandown International Raceway.
The top 10 shootout will run at 12.25pm.
In glorious Melbourne conditions, the TeamVodafone driver crushed his opponents, finishing more than 0.3s ahead of distant title rival Mark Winterbottom in the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon.
Whincup said that he is pleased with his #1 Vodafone racer.
“I’m much happier today,” Whincup said.
“Yesterday, fourth was OK, but it wasn’t really where we wanted. The car was still skating around a bit, but I’m feeling good.
“And it’s a cracker day here in Melbourne.”
While Whincup was in top form, the man he is chasing in the championship was not. Jim Beam Racing’s James Courtney took ninth place, making it into the top 10 shootout, but was nearly 0.7s behind Whincup.
Jack Daniel’s Racing’s Rick Kelly took an impressive third place ahead of Symmons Plains podium finisher Paul Dumbrell (The Bottle-O Racing), Will Davison (Toll HRT), Todd Kelly (Jack Daniel’s Racing), Russell Ingall (Supercheap Auto Racing) and Garth Tander (Toll HRT).
Just missing out on the top 10 was Greg Murphy (Castrol EDGE) and Craig Lowndes (TeamVodafone).
Courtney was ninth, just ahead of Fujitsu Racing’s Lee Holdsworth, who will be the first car to take to the track for the top 10 shootout at 12.25pm.
| 1 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE | 1:10.2397* |
| 2 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.5899 |
| 3 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE | 1:10.6077 |
| 4 | 55 | Paul Dumbrell | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.8457 |
| 5 | 22 | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VE | 1:10.8772 |
| 6 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE | 1:10.8841 |
| 7 | 39 | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE | 1:10.8893 |
| 8 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE | 1:10.9147 |
| 9 | 18 | James Courtney | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.9167 |
| 10 | 33 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VE | 1:10.9256 |
| 11 | 51 | Greg Murphy | Holden Commodore VE | 1:10.9526 |
| 12 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE | 1:10.9607 |
| 13 | 14 | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE | 1:10.9645 |
| 14 | 24 | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE | 1:10.9742 |
| 15 | 17 | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.0468 |
| 16 | 6 | Steven Richards | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.1001 |
| 17 | 4 | Alex Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.1126 |
| 18 | 9 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.1380 |
| 19 | 11 | Jason Bargwanna | Holden Commodore VE | 1:11.2216 |
| 20 | 12 | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.2576 |
| 21 | 34 | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE | 1:11.2826 |
| 22 | 47 | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.3086 |
| 23 | 21 | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE | 1:11.3359 |
| 24 | 10 | Andrew Thompson | Holden Commodore VE | 1:11.4358 |
| 25 | 8 | Andrew Jones | Holden Commodore VE | 1:11.4702 |
| 26 | 30 | Warren Luff | Holden Commodore VE | 1:11.5884 |
| 27 | 19 | Jonathon Webb | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.6106 |
| 28 | 3 | Tony D’Alberto | Holden Commodore VE | 1:11.7387 |
| 29 | 16 | Tony Ricciardello | Holden Commodore VE | 1:13.4849 |
