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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

Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering

Bob Gloyn Photography

Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden
Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering
Scott Pye, Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden
Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske Ford
David Reynolds, Erebus Motorsport Holden
Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden
Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

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

ClaDriverCarTimeGap
1 19 australia  Jack Le Brocq  Holden Commodore ZB 50.9166  
2 6 australia  Cameron Waters  Ford Falcon FG X 50.9587 0.0421
3 7 new_zealand  Andre Heimgartner  Nissan Altima 51.0387 0.1221
4 33 australia  Garth Tander  Holden Commodore ZB 51.0544 0.1378
5 18 australia  Lee Holdsworth  Holden Commodore ZB 51.0751 0.1585
6 15 australia  Rick Kelly  Nissan Altima 51.1059 0.1893
7 55 australia  Chaz Mostert  Ford Falcon FG X 51.1186 0.2020
8 8 australia  Nick Percat  Holden Commodore ZB 51.2085 0.2919
9 56 new_zealand  Richie Stanaway  Ford Falcon FG X 51.2120 0.2954
10 99 australia  Anton de Pasquale  Holden Commodore ZB 51.2268 0.3102
11 23 australia  Michael Caruso  Nissan Altima 51.2687 0.3521
12 35 australia  Todd Hazelwood  Ford Falcon FG X 51.3603 0.4437
13 34 australia  James Golding  Holden Commodore ZB 51.3621 0.4455
14 230 australia  Will Davison  Ford Falcon FG X 51.4583 0.5417
15 78 switzerland  Simona de Silvestro  Nissan Altima 51.5509 0.6343
16 21 australia  Tim Blanchard  Holden Commodore ZB 51.6511 0.7345

Qualifying 2

ClaDriverCarTimeGap
1 888 australia  Craig Lowndes  Holden Commodore ZB 50.6740  
2 1 australia  Jamie Whincup  Holden Commodore ZB 50.7789 0.1049
3 17 new_zealand  Scott McLaughlin  Ford Falcon FG X 50.7876 0.1136
4 97 new_zealand  Shane van Gisbergen  Holden Commodore ZB 50.8417 0.1677
5 19 australia  Jack Le Brocq  Holden Commodore ZB 50.8614 0.1874
6 9 australia  David Reynolds  Holden Commodore ZB 50.8894 0.2154
7 14 australia  Tim Slade  Holden Commodore ZB 50.9665 0.2925
8 2 australia  Scott Pye  Holden Commodore ZB 50.9701 0.2961
9 33 australia  Garth Tander  Holden Commodore ZB 50.9717 0.2977
10 25 australia  James Courtney  Holden Commodore ZB 50.9739 0.2999
11 12 new_zealand  Fabian Coulthard  Ford Falcon FG X 50.9890 0.3150
12 18 australia  Lee Holdsworth  Holden Commodore ZB 50.9951 0.3211
13 6 australia  Cameron Waters  Ford Falcon FG X 51.0249 0.3509
14 15 australia  Rick Kelly  Nissan Altima 51.0655 0.3915
15 5 australia  Mark Winterbottom  Ford Falcon FG X 51.0992 0.4252
16 7 new_zealand  Andre Heimgartner  Nissan Altima 51.2326 0.5586

Qualifying 3

ClaDriverCarTimeGap
1 97 new_zealand  Shane van Gisbergen  Holden Commodore ZB 50.6381  
2 1 australia  Jamie Whincup  Holden Commodore ZB 50.6897 0.0516
3 17 new_zealand  Scott McLaughlin  Ford Falcon FG X 50.7573 0.1192
4 888 australia  Craig Lowndes  Holden Commodore ZB 50.7824 0.1443
5 25 australia  James Courtney  Holden Commodore ZB 50.8428 0.2047
6 9 australia  David Reynolds  Holden Commodore ZB 50.8498 0.2117
7 2 australia  Scott Pye  Holden Commodore ZB 50.8640 0.2259
8 14 australia  Tim Slade  Holden Commodore ZB 50.9604 0.3223
9 19 australia  Jack Le Brocq  Holden Commodore ZB 51.0832 0.4451
10 33 australia  Garth Tander  Holden Commodore ZB 51.2352 0.5971

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