Clipsal 500 Supercars: Van Gisbergen to start first leg from pole

Running last, van Gisbergen had to overcome a barnstorming 1m19.616s lap from DJR Team Penske driver Fabian Coulthard to grab pole.

But the reigning Supercars champ was up to the task, a 1m19.572s handing him pole by 0.04s over Coulthard.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said van Gisbergen. “Fabian’s time was fastest time of the weekend [so far] so it was going to be tough. But the track was grippy, and the car is awesome; the car has got better and better all weekend.”

While missing out on pole, Coulthard was still the best improver based on his original qualifying spot with a gain of four positions.

Prodrive’s Chaz Mostert made up a couple of spots too, moving up to third with a 1m19.868s. James Courtney will start on the outside of the second row after matching his qualifying effort.

Mark Winterbottom improved from the back end of the Top 10 to fifth with his Shootout lap, while Scott McLaughlin – who yesterday missed out on provisional pole by 0.0001s – nipped a brake at Turn 9 after being up on Coulthard’s lap at the second sector and ended up way down in sixth, 0.4s off pole.

Despite topping practice this morning with a Shootout simulation lap Jamie Whincup failed to make any headway during the one-lap sprint, slotting into seventh, while Nissan driver Rick Kelly tumbled from third down to eighth.

“I didn’t get the most out of that lap,” admitted Kelly. “I made a slight error at Turn 7, lost a bit of momentum and confidence through Turn 8. That cost us a third or fourth, which is where the car is at right now.”

Cameron Waters and David Reynolds both finished the session essentially where they started it, in ninth and 10th respectively.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.5723
2	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'19.6165
3	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'19.8687
4	22	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.9932
5	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'20.0176
6	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'20.0574
7	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1'20.1604
8	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'20.3544
9	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'20.3785
10	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1'20.4829