Tasmania Supercars: Van Gisbergen takes first new format pole
Shane van Gisbergen will go down in history as the first driver to take a pole position through Supercars' new split qualifying format.
Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering
Bob Gloyn Photography
The Kiwi cruised through Q2 with the fourth quickest time, before turning things up in the Q3 session that determined the top 10 grid spots.
It was his first run that did the damage, a 50.638s straight out of the gate enough to secure pole for today's opening race.
"It was pretty weird watching the first session from the pitwall," said van Gisbergen. "You see how fast our cars go, it was awesome to watch the other guys out there.
"Then it was serious business for us. Thankfully we had a good car, so we didn't have to spend too many tyres to get through to the next session.
"[The system] worked, there wasn't much traffic out there. Everyone got a fair shot at it. Well done to Supercars, they've done a good job."
Jamie Whincup made it a Red Bull Holden one-two, falling just 0.05s short of van Gisbergen on his first run, and then failing to improve on his second.
Scott McLaughlin was third fastest, his lap also coming on his first run, while Q2 pacesetter Craig Lowndes was the best of those to have improved on their final run down in fourth.
James Courtney also made late gains to qualify fifth, which dropped David Reynolds down to sixth ahead of Scott Pye and Tim Slade.
Jack Le Brocq qualified an impressive ninth, best of the drivers to go all the way from Q1 to Q3. The other was Garth Tander, who will start 10th.
There were some big names that got caught out by the new qualifying system, with Chaz Mostert, Nick Percat, and Michael Caruso all failing to get out of Q1.
Mostert and Percat will therefore start from 17th and 18th respectively, with Caruso back in 21st.
Simona de Silvestro, who fell just 0.03s short of an automatic Q2 spot in practice yesterday, struggled to get near here Friday pace and qualified 25th.
In Q2 the biggest name to miss out was Fabian Coulthard, the DJR Team Penske driver just 11th quickest.
None of the Tickford drivers made it beyond Q2 either, with Cam Waters, who was second fastest in Q1, just 13th quickest, while Mark Winterbottom will start down in 15th.
Qualifying 1
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 19 | Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.9166 | |
2 | 6 | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG X | 50.9587 | 0.0421 |
3 | 7 | Andre Heimgartner | Nissan Altima | 51.0387 | 0.1221 |
4 | 33 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore ZB | 51.0544 | 0.1378 |
5 | 18 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore ZB | 51.0751 | 0.1585 |
6 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 51.1059 | 0.1893 |
7 | 55 | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG X | 51.1186 | 0.2020 |
8 | 8 | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore ZB | 51.2085 | 0.2919 |
9 | 56 | Richie Stanaway | Ford Falcon FG X | 51.2120 | 0.2954 |
10 | 99 | Anton de Pasquale | Holden Commodore ZB | 51.2268 | 0.3102 |
11 | 23 | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 51.2687 | 0.3521 |
12 | 35 | Todd Hazelwood | Ford Falcon FG X | 51.3603 | 0.4437 |
13 | 34 | James Golding | Holden Commodore ZB | 51.3621 | 0.4455 |
14 | 230 | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG X | 51.4583 | 0.5417 |
15 | 78 | Simona de Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 51.5509 | 0.6343 |
16 | 21 | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore ZB | 51.6511 | 0.7345 |
Qualifying 2
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.6740 | |
2 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.7789 | 0.1049 |
3 | 17 | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG X | 50.7876 | 0.1136 |
4 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.8417 | 0.1677 |
5 | 19 | Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.8614 | 0.1874 |
6 | 9 | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.8894 | 0.2154 |
7 | 14 | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.9665 | 0.2925 |
8 | 2 | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.9701 | 0.2961 |
9 | 33 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.9717 | 0.2977 |
10 | 25 | James Courtney | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.9739 | 0.2999 |
11 | 12 | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG X | 50.9890 | 0.3150 |
12 | 18 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.9951 | 0.3211 |
13 | 6 | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG X | 51.0249 | 0.3509 |
14 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 51.0655 | 0.3915 |
15 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG X | 51.0992 | 0.4252 |
16 | 7 | Andre Heimgartner | Nissan Altima | 51.2326 | 0.5586 |
Qualifying 3
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.6381 | |
2 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.6897 | 0.0516 |
3 | 17 | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG X | 50.7573 | 0.1192 |
4 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.7824 | 0.1443 |
5 | 25 | James Courtney | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.8428 | 0.2047 |
6 | 9 | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.8498 | 0.2117 |
7 | 2 | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.8640 | 0.2259 |
8 | 14 | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore ZB | 50.9604 | 0.3223 |
9 | 19 | Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | 51.0832 | 0.4451 |
10 | 33 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore ZB | 51.2352 | 0.5971 |
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