Ipswich Supercars: Whincup secures pole for Sunday race

The best of the conditions actually came in the middle of the session,Whincup jumping to the top with a 1m09.411s right on the 10-minute mark. He did roll out at the end of the session looking to improve, but couldn’t quite match his time from the second run.

Luckily for him nobody else could improve enough either, giving Whincup a second season pole.

“The car was excellent, we’ve made a tune-up over night,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

Lowndes finished the session second, after rolling the dice right at the end. His engineer Ludo Lacroix made the call not to go out for a final run at the end, parking up after doing a 1m09.501s in the middle of the session.

It meant he had no chance of trying to overhaul team-mate Whincup, but also means he has an extra set of green tyres up his sleeve for this afternoon’s 200-kay race.

Chaz Mostert did improve late in the session, but it didn’t have much of an impact on his starting position. He finished up third, splitting Whincup and Lowndes from team-mate Shane van Gisbergen.

The Kiwi, meanwhile, had an action-packed session. A mistake on his first green tyre run meant van Gisbergen had no choice but to do his best work right at the end, coming from dead last to jump near the top with a 1m09.604s. It was actually good enough for third for a few seconds, before Mostert made his late improvement to reclaim the inside of the second row.

Mark Winterbottom qualified fifth, but he was an unhappy man at the end of the session. The reigning champion felt he was held up by rookie Kurt Kostecki on his last green tyre lap, the Team 18 Commodore slowing at the apex of the ultra-fast Turn 2.

“He was just sat on the inside corner,” said Winterbottom. “It’s just silly. Guys that aren’t in the series getting in your way, it’s kind of disappointing. Nothing is intentional, but there is a lot at stake.”

Scott Pye qualified sixth for DJR Team Penske, while Michael Caruso was one of the few big movers on the last run, jumping 10 spots to grab seventh.

Tim Slade was eighth, yesterday’s surprise pole sitter Chris Pither ninth, and Scott McLaughlin rounding out the Top 10.