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Australia

Symmons Plains Supercars: Whincup wins wet and wild pole

Jamie Whincup will start today’s Supercars race from pole position after a wet and wild scrap with Scott McLaughlin in qualifying.

Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

Daniel Kalisz / Motorsport Images

Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden
Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden
Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske Ford
Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske Ford, Dick Johnson
Chaz Mostert, Rod Nash Racing Ford

With the best of the weather conditions coming right at the death, Whincup and DJR Team Penske rival Scott McLaughlin staged a thrilling battle for pole, both improving well after the chequered flag.

In the end it was Whincup’s final lap that did the job, the Triple Eight driver coming out on top by 0.2s.

“Crazy conditions,” he said. “I just pushed hard, on the limit under brakes everywhere.

“It’s critical to be up the front [in the rain], pole is fantastic. It’s a crazy day, we’re earning our money today. Hopefully we stay dry and keep it clean this afternoon.”

The early part of the session saw times hang around the one-minute mark, with the likes of Shane van Gisbergen, Craig Lowndes, and Scott McLaughlin all having a crack at the top.

With just over eight minutes to go times finally dipped under a minute, Erebus driver Dale Wood jumping to the top with a 59.697s. He was replaced by McLaughlin’s 59.691s a minute later, before Whincup went fastest with a 59.666s before immediately improving to a 59.566s.

Times took another significant step forward with four minutes to go when Lowndes bounced back to the top with a 59.189s. Tim Slade pipped that with a 59.043s, only for Whincup to pull ahead again with a 58.712s.

That time looked to have done it, only for McLaughlin to steal top spot after the flag with a 58.667s. Whincup wasn’t done, though, finally grabbing pole with a 58.397s.

Chaz Mostert slotted into third with a last-lap improvement of his own, while Slade found a small gain to end up fourth, ahead of van Gisbergen.

Fabian Coulthard was next, ahead of Todd Kelly and Lowndes, who slipped all the way back to eighth.

David Reynolds and Cam Waters rounded out the Top 10.

Despite the poor conditions there was only one red flag, coming after Alex Rullo had a frightening off on the back straight which saw him bounce across the track after Turn 6.

James Courtney, Will Davison, Rick Kelly, and Taz Douglas didn’t take part in the session, all four having been ruled out of the rest of the weekend following yesterday’s monster shunt.

ClaDriverCarLapsTimeGapIntervalkm/h
1 88 australia  Jamie Whincup  Holden Commodore VF 19 58.3971     148.569
2 17 new_zealand  Scott McLaughlin  Ford Falcon FG-X 18 58.6678 0.2707 0.2707 147.883
3 55 australia  Chaz Mostert  Ford Falcon FG-X 19 58.7079 0.3108 0.0401 147.782
4 14 australia  Tim Slade  Holden Commodore VF 16 58.8794 0.4823 0.1715 147.352
5 97 new_zealand  Shane van Gisbergen  Holden Commodore VF 19 58.9093 0.5122 0.0299 147.277
6 12 new_zealand  Fabian Coulthard  Ford Falcon FG-X 18 59.1030 0.7059 0.1937 146.794
7 7 australia  Todd Kelly  Nissan Altima 18 59.1156 0.7185 0.0126 146.763
8 888 australia  Craig Lowndes  Holden Commodore VF 20 59.1516 0.7545 0.0360 146.673
9 9 australia  David Reynolds  Holden Commodore VF 18 59.1881 0.7910 0.0365 146.583
10 6 australia  Cameron Waters  Ford Falcon FG-X 19 59.1974 0.8003 0.0093 146.560
11 18 australia  Lee Holdsworth  Holden Commodore VF 18 59.2207 0.8236 0.0233 146.502
12 5 australia  Mark Winterbottom  Ford Falcon FG-X 19 59.2281 0.8310 0.0074 146.484
13 23 australia  Michael Caruso  Nissan Altima 19 59.2682 0.8711 0.0401 146.385
14 33 australia  Garth Tander  Holden Commodore VF 20 59.4243 1.0272 0.1561 146.000
15 2 australia  Scott Pye  Holden Commodore VF 19 59.4861 1.0890 0.0618 145.849
16 8 australia  Nick Percat  Holden Commodore VF 17 59.5786 1.1815 0.0925 145.622
17 56 australia  Jason Bright  Ford Falcon FG-X 19 59.6093 1.2122 0.0307 145.547
18 99 australia  Dale Wood  Holden Commodore VF 19 59.6364 1.2393 0.0271 145.481
19 34 australia  James Moffat  Holden Commodore VF 18 59.7258 1.3287 0.0894 145.263
20 78 switzerland  Simona de Silvestro  Nissan Altima 17 59.9941 1.5970 0.2683 144.614
21 21 australia  Tim Blanchard  Holden Commodore VF 16 1'00.2586 1.8615 0.2645 143.979
22 62 australia  Alex Rullo  Holden Commodore VF 1

 

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