Whincup fastest, two Kiwis in Bathurst top 10 shootout
BATHURST: Jamie Whincup has defied a tremendous challenge from David Reynolds and Scott McLaughlin to claim provisional pole for the Bathurst 1000.
The Red Bull Racing ace squeaked out the fastest time in qualifying, charting a 2min 04.1093sec lap at Mount Panorama.
The pure pace of the Triple Eight Commodore won out in a helterskelter qualifying session yesterday afternoon.
‘‘That’s by far the quickest I’ve been round this place in a Supercar. I couldn’t be happier,’’ Whincup said.
In almost unprecedented scenes, drivers took to qualifying as their first dry run around the circuit for the meet.
The result was a hotlycontested session as teams guessed at their ideal setups.
Whincup, Reynolds, McLaughlin and James Courtney enjoyed a dingdong battle for supremacy, each having spells on top of the timing charts.
Respite arrived with nine minutes remaining, when Jack le Brocq speared into the wall at turn one and required a tow home — bringing a red flag and a session break.
Each team brought their cars in before setting out for one last push.
Kiwi McLaughlin stole top spot with a scorching hot lap, reminiscent of his polewinning drive last year.
With only qualifying for today’s top 10 shootout on the line, Whincup revealed he was in two minds about whether to go hard in the session after the break.
‘‘I’m so glad we went out for
the last one or we would have been pipped,’’ he said.
‘‘That was intense . . . we were hanging on the edge.’’
Whincup said their inability to have a run on slick tyres at the previously rainsoaked track meant he owed the result to his pit team.
‘‘To throw green tyres on a car and belt around one of the best bits of road in the world was tough for everyone,’’ he said.
‘‘The real hero of my day was the engineers.
‘‘It’s just an educated guess on what you think the car should be. The car is completely different to last year, so they made a really good guess. It was a cracker session.’’
Reynolds was on track to snatch provisional pole at the death, only to fade in the final sector to finish second.
Their prizes are the marquee slots in today’s shootout, which begins at 8.10pm (NZ time).
McLaughlin’s countryman, Shane van Gisbergen, was fourth fastest, while Craig Lowndes, on his last visit to Bathurst as a fulltime driver, returned to the shootout for the first time in three years with the sixthfastest time.
But Chaz Mostert, Fabian Coulthard and Rick Kelly all missed out.
No Nissans and just two Falcons — of McLaughlin and Cam Waters — will take their place in the shootout.
Mostert came in unlucky No 11, six hundredths of a second behind 10th fastest Garth Tander. — AAP