Sandown 500: Reynolds takes provisional pole as Triple Eight stumbles

With the track as dry as its been all weekend, times quickly tumbled in the early stages of the session. Shane van Gisbergen was first into the 1m09s when he went fastest four minutes in, before Mark Winterbottom (1m09.427s) and Scott McLaughlin (1m09.196s) jumped the #97 Red Bull Holden.

A couple of minutes later practice pacesetter Michael Caruso dived into the eights with a 1m08.908s, before Reynolds had his first stint at the top with a 1m08.796s.

Just after the midway point McLaughlin went quickest again with a 1m08.581s, Reynolds hitting back immediately with a 1m08.579s.

The session was then poised for a final lap shootout, the field heading into the pits for a final green tyre run. But spitting rain in the closing minutes put paid to any chances of significant improvement, securing provisional pole for the #9 Erebus Commodore and ensuring that co-driver Luke Youlden will start the co-driver qualifying race from the inside of the front row.

“It was really good,” said Reynolds.

“We were concerned after yesterday because we were really slow in the wet, but it was awesome. We didn’t touch the car since we rolled out, we stuck with our base set-up, and it’s paid off – it’s a jet! I’m really proud of everyone. It’s a good start.”

McLaughlin’s time fell just 0.002s short of Reynolds’ benchmark, with Alex Premat set to share the front row for the co-driver qualifying race.

Prodrive pair Chaz Mostert and Mark Winterbottom were third and fourth fastest respectively, ahead of Fabian Coulthard and another Prodrive Ford in Cam Waters.

Jamie Whincup ended up seventh fastest, although it could have been much better for the Red Bull Holden. Whincup looked set to find a gain on that final green tyre run with a purple middle sector, but caught Simona de Silvestro’s Nissan in the final corner and missed out on improving.

Still, things could have been worse – teammate Shane van Gisbergen didn’t manage to piece together a lap during the best of the conditions midway through the session, and then spun on his final run.

As a result co-driver Matt Campbell will start the qualifying race way down in 16th.

Craig Lowndes also missed out on a Top 10 spot, finishing 11th behind Garth Tander, Nick Percat, and Caruso.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	9	David Reynolds  Luke Youlden	Holden Commodore VF	1'08.5791
2	17	Alexandre Prémat    Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'08.5817	0.0026
3	55	Steven Owen    Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'08.5826	0.0035
4	5	Mark Winterbottom    Dean Canto	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'08.6086	0.0295
5	12	Tony D'Alberto    Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	1'08.6167	0.0376
6	6	Richie Stanaway    Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'08.7745	0.1954
7	88	Jamie Whincup    Paul Dumbrell	Holden Commodore VF	1'08.7778	0.1987
8	33	Garth Tander    James Golding	Holden Commodore VF	1'08.8104	0.2313
9	8	Nick Percat    Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore VF	1'08.8593	0.2802
10	23	Michael Caruso    Dean Fiore	Nissan Altima	1'08.8888	0.3097
11	888	Steven Richards    Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1'08.8900	0.3109
12	75	Tim Slade    Ash Walsh	Holden Commodore VF	1'08.8980	0.3189
13	15	Rick Kelly    David Wall	Nissan Altima	1'08.9105	0.3314
14	18	Lee Holdsworth    Karl Reindler	Holden Commodore VF	1'08.9764	0.3973
15	22	James Courtney    Jack Perkins	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.1591	0.5800
16	97	Shane van Gisbergen    Matt Campbell	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.2098	0.6307
17	7	Todd Kelly    Jack Le Brocq	Nissan Altima	1'09.2389	0.6598
18	99	Dale Wood    Chris Pither	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.2691	0.6900
19	19	Jonathon Webb    Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.2872	0.7081
20	56	Jason Bright    Garry Jacobson	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'09.2946	0.7155
21	34	James Moffat    Richard Muscat	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.3298	0.7507
22	2	Warren Luff    Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.3560	0.7769
23	4	Tim Blanchard    Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.3954	0.8163
24	78	Simona de Silvestro    David Russell	Nissan Altima	1'09.6216	1.0425
25	3	Aaren Russell    Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.1841	1.6050
26	62	Alex Davison    Alex Rullo	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.5567	1.9776