The Bend Supercars: Tyre trick helps Heimgartner to pole
Andre Heimgartner used a single set of wet weather tyres throughout qualifying to take pole for the first Supercars race at The Bend.
In tricky wet conditions the Kiwi opted to stick to a single tyre set through all three segments of qualifying.
The idea was to retain tyre temperature rather than trying to get heat into new sets of rubber – and it proved to be a masterstroke.
Heimgartner was comfortably fastest in Q2 before sliding his way to a 2m07.856s midway through Q3.
Getting a time down early was critical as conditions worsened slightly at the very end of the session.
That meant Heimgartner's time was good enough to secure a second career pole position by two-tenths of a second.
"The car was great," he said.
"We went with the theory that if we kept the same tyres on I'd be able to work on my driving rather than having to pull the tyre temperature up each time.
"It's great for Kelly Grove Racing to get our first pole position this year, things are heading in the right direction."
Chaz Mostert will start from the outside of the front row, while rookie Will Brown put in an impressive performance to qualify third for Erebus Motorsport.
"It’s awesome, the boys have given me a good car," said Brown. "It was actually really nice to drive in the wet then. We weren’t as fast as the front guys but it was pretty cool to get P3.
“I said to the boys, ‘send it straight out there for the last run’ because I could tell it was just getting wetter and wetter, so get out there and do the time straight away and I think that ended up standing.”
Anton De Pasquale was the best-placed Dick Johnson Racing entry ahead of James Courtney and Will Davison.
There was a trio of title contenders next, Cam Waters seventh while points leader and wet weather specialist Shane van Gisbergen was just eighth.
Jamie Whincup and Brodie Kostecki rounded out the Top 10 while David Reynolds was the man on the bubble and will start 11th after just missing Q3.
Mark Winterbottom didn't even get a shot at getting through Q2 thanks to a power steering failure and will start 20th.
It was a horror session for Brad Jones Racing, the team's four cars filling the back two rows of the grid.
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Interval |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7 |
Andre Heimgartner
|
Ford Mustang GT | 2'07.856 | ||
2 | 25 |
Chaz Mostert
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'08.068 | 0.212 | 0.212 |
3 | 9 |
Will Brown
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'08.450 | 0.594 | 0.382 |
4 | 11 |
Anton De Pasquale
|
Ford Mustang GT | 2'08.658 | 0.802 | 0.207 |
5 | 44 |
James Courtney
|
Ford Mustang GT | 2'08.871 | 1.015 | 0.212 |
6 | 17 |
Will Davison
|
Ford Mustang GT | 2'08.888 | 1.032 | 0.017 |
7 | 6 |
Cameron Waters
|
Ford Mustang GT | 2'08.894 | 1.038 | 0.006 |
8 | 97 |
Shane van Gisbergen
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'08.903 | 1.047 | 0.008 |
9 | 88 |
Jamie Whincup
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'09.219 | 1.363 | 0.316 |
10 | 99 |
Brodie Kostecki
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'09.990 | 2.134 | 0.770 |
11 | 26 |
David Reynolds
|
Ford Mustang GT | 2'07.419 | ||
12 | 20 |
Scott Pye
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'07.517 | 0.098 | |
13 | 55 |
Thomas Randle
|
Ford Mustang GT | 2'07.881 | 0.025 | 0.363 |
14 | 3 |
Tim Slade
|
Ford Mustang GT | 2'07.882 | 0.026 | 0.001 |
15 | 34 |
Jake Kostecki
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'08.044 | 0.188 | 0.161 |
16 | 2 |
Bryce Fullwood
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'08.405 | 0.549 | 0.361 |
17 | 27 |
Kurt Kostecki
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'08.633 | 0.777 | 0.228 |
18 | 22 |
Garry Jacobson
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'09.101 | 1.245 | 0.467 |
19 | 19 |
Fabian Coulthard
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'09.696 | 1.840 | 0.595 |
20 | 35 |
Zane Goddard
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'08.617 | 0.761 | |
21 | 5 |
Jack Le Brocq
|
Ford Mustang GT | 2'08.922 | 1.066 | 0.305 |
22 | 14 |
Todd Hazelwood
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'09.976 | 2.120 | 1.054 |
23 | 4 |
Jack Smith
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'10.503 | 2.647 | 0.526 |
24 | 96 |
Macauley Jones
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'10.600 | 2.744 | 0.096 |
25 | 8 |
Nick Percat
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2'11.152 | 3.296 | 0.552 |
26 | 18 |
Mark Winterbottom
|
Holden Commodore ZB | |||
View full results |
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