Pukekohe Supercars: Whincup pips McLaughlin for pole by 0.005s

It was McLaughlin that set the first representative time of the 20-minute session, the DJR Team Penske driver with a 1m03.053s on his opening run.

By the time the session was four minutes old Shane van Gisbergen had broken into the 1m02s, with a 1m02.958s to go fastest. That time lasted barely a minute, before Mark Winterbottom banked an impressive 1m02.673s to claim top spot.

At the midway point of thesession Winterbottom improved to a 1m02.588s, although that wasn't enough to stop McLaughlin storming to the top with a 1m02.520s.

That gave the Penske Ford the advantage heading into the final shootout in the final three minutes of the session, but ultimately it wasn't enough. Unable to improve on the final run, McLaughlin was denied by a stunning 1m02.514s from Whincup with 90 seconds to go, just 0.005s separating the pair.

The pole is just Whincup's second of the season.

"The car was good, we really maximised that last lap," said Whincup.

"Heading out with green tyres, I had to pull it all out. I took a risk; I could have ended up P20, but got the pole."

Chaz Mostert improved on his final run to grab third, his 1m02.535s leaving him just 0.02s off pole, while Winterbottom ended up fourth with a 1m02.572s on his final lap.

Cam Waters capped off an impressive session for Prodrive Racing with in the inside of the third row, ahead of Tim Slade, who made a small gain on his final run to qualify sixth.

Yesterday's race winner Shane van Gisbergen went from 11th before the final runs to seventh with a 1m02.776s, edging out fellow title long-shot Fabian Coulthard.

James Moffat and David Reynolds rounded out the Top 10.

In a remarkably close session, the top 23 cars were separated by less than a second, while the entire 26-car spread was just 1.4s.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1'02.5148
2	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'02.5203	0.0055
3	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'02.5356	0.0208
4	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'02.5723	0.0575
5	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'02.6307	0.1159
6	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	1'02.7379	0.2231
7	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1'02.7767	0.2619
8	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	1'02.8333	0.3185
9	34	James Moffat	Holden Commodore VF	1'02.8608	0.3460
10	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1'02.8944	0.3796
11	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1'02.9093	0.3945
12	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1'02.9402	0.4254
13	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1'02.9407	0.4259
14	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	1'02.9650	0.4502
15	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1'02.9705	0.4557
16	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'02.9720	0.4572
17	19	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1'02.9973	0.4825
18	56	Jason Bright	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'03.0178	0.5030
19	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1'03.0221	0.5073
20	22	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1'03.0664	0.5516
21	7	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'03.1051	0.5903
22	99	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	1'03.3685	0.8537
23	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1'03.4227	0.9079
24	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	1'03.5416	1.0268
25	62	Jack Perkins	Holden Commodore VF	1'03.6548	1.1400
26	3	Aaren Russell	Holden Commodore VF	1'03.9883	1.4735