Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom took his and the team’s first pole position of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship season in qualifying for the second race of this weekend’s Winton 300 round. It is his first pole position since the Symmons Plains round in November last year.
‘Frosty’ – who voices an Australian car in the upcoming Cars 2 animated feature by Disney/Pixar – clocked a 1:22.5338 on a semi-dry Winton track, less than 0.09 seconds quicker than yesterday’s race-winner and championship leader Jamie Whincup.
A brief shower hit the circuit before today’s twenty-minute qualifying session, and it became imperative for drivers to clock as many laps as possible, in the hope that the track would dry enough before the end of the session.
But the damp conditions still managed to catch out some drivers – Whincup, for example, ran off-track as he attempted to wrest provisional pole from Winterbottom.
Steven Johnson followed up his solid performance yesterday with another top-three qualifying result in qualifying, and he shares the second tow with TOLL HRT’s Garth Tander.
The third row is occupied by Michael Caruso and yesterday’s pole-sitter Craig Lowndes. The top ten is completed by David Reynolds, Jason Bright, Shane van Gisbergen and Tim Slade.
A suspected drivetrain failure saw Fabian Coulthard sidelined for the second half of the session, and he finished up 14th-fastest.
Yesterday’s second-placed finisher Lee Holdsworth will start 11th, while defending champion James Courtney had yet another torrid qualifying session and will start from 20th place.
Greg Murphy has his times excluded after stewards ruled that his Commodore was not fitted with the correct factory control wheels for the session.
Today’s 67-lap race starts at 1:05pm local time.
V8 Supercars Winton 300 Qualifying Results (Race 2):
Driver | Entry / Team | Result | ||
1. | Mark Winterbottom | ![]() |
Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing | 1:22.5338 |
2. | Jamie Whincup | ![]() |
Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Race Engineering | + 0.0888 |
3. | Steven Johnson | ![]() |
Jim Beam / Dick Johnson Racing | + 0.1187 |
4. | Garth Tander | ![]() |
TOLL / Holden Racing Team | + 0.1333 |
5. | Michael Caruso | ![]() |
Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport | + 0.2010 |
6. | Craig Lowndes | ![]() |
Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Race Engineering | + 0.2185 |
7. | David Reynolds | ![]() |
Stratco Racing / Kelly Racing | + 0.2806 |
8. | Jason Bright | ![]() |
Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing | + 0.3136 |
9. | Shane van Gisbergen | ![]() |
SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing | + 0.3308 |
10. | Tim Slade | ![]() |
Lucky 7 / Stone Brothers Racing | + 0.3353 |
11. | Lee Holdsworth | ![]() |
Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport | + 0.3555 |
12. | Rick Kelly | ![]() |
Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing | + 0.3617 |
13. | Alex Davison | ![]() |
Irwin / Stone Brothers Racing | + 0.4519 |
14. | Fabian Coulthard | ![]() |
Bundaberg / Walkinsaw Racing | + 0.4917 |
15. | Will Davison | ![]() |
Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing | + 0.5646 |
16. | Tony D’Alberto | ![]() |
Wilson Security / Tony D’Alberto Racing | + 0.5693 |
17. | James Moffat | ![]() |
Jim Beam / Dick Johnson Racing | + 0.6759 |
18. | Todd Kelly | ![]() |
Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing | + 0.6828 |
19. | Paul Dumbrell | ![]() |
The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash | + 0.7090 |
20. | James Courtney | ![]() |
TOLL / Holden Racing Team | + 0.8458 |
21. | Jonathon Webb | ![]() |
Mother Energy Racing Team / Tekno | + 0.8472 |
22. | Jason Bargwanna | ![]() |
Jana Living / Brad Jones Racing | + 0.8812 |
23. | Dean Fiore | ![]() |
Triple F Racing | + 0.9829 |
24. | Russell Ingall | ![]() |
Supercheap Auto / Paul Morris Motorsport | + 1.7390 |
25. | Steve Owen | ![]() |
VIP Petfoods / Paul Morris Motorsport | + 1.2445 |
26. | Karl Reindler | ![]() |
Fair Dinkum Sheds / Brad Jones Racing | + 1.3737 |
27. | Warren Luff | ![]() |
Gulf Western Oil Racing / Lucas Dumbrell | + 2.0164 |
EXC. | Greg Murphy* | ![]() |
Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing | excluded |
*The Stewards excluded Car #11 Greg Murphy from the Results of Qualifying for the use of non-control wheels.
[Image via Orrcon Racing, video via V8 Supercars]
Richard Bailey
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