» V8s: Davison, Youlden on pole for L&H 500

A race win in the first of today’s two grid-determining sprint races has been enough to give the Ford Performance Racing driver pairing of Will Davison and Luke Youlden pole position for tomorrow’s L&H 500 at Phillip Island.

Davison claimed victory in the opening sprint race, while Youlden’s 14th-placed fiish was enough to ensure that the driving pairing’s points’ tally would grant them the all important starting position. The share the front row with TOLL Holden Racing Team drivers Garth Tander and Nick Percat.

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Sprint Race 1

In what was a seemingly comfortable display of driving, Will Davison led from start to finish in the first 14-lap sprint race.

Davison held off Triple 8 Racing’s Andrew Thompson – co-driver for championship leader Jamie Whincup – in the early stages of the race, until Thompson was passed by Garth Tander at mid-distance.

Tander ran out of laps to mount a challenge on Davison’s lead, eventually finishing 2.6 seconds adrift. Thompson claimed third, ahead of the Kelly Racing cars of David Reynolds and Todd Kelly.

V8 Supercars L&H 500 Sprint Race 1 Final Classification (14 laps):

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Will Davison	Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing	22:40.9887
2.	Garth Tander	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 2.6975
3.	Andrew Thompson	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	+ 5.2703
4.	David Reynolds	Stratco Racing / Kelly Racing	+ 6.1456
5.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 6.9091
6.	Craig Lowndes	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	+ 7.9256
7.	Steve Owen	VIP Petfoods / Paul Morris Motorsport	+ 11.9997
8.	Michael Caruso	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 13.4414
9.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 13.9934
10.	Fabian Coulthard	Bundaberg Racing / Walkinsaw Racing	+ 15.0256
11.	Lee Holdsworth	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 15.3930
12.	Tim Slade	Lucky 7 Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 18.0130
13.	Jonathon Webb	Mother Energy Racing Team / Tekno	+ 19.0301
14.	Jason Bargwanna	Jana Living Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 19.0988
15.	Dean Fiore	Triple F Racing	+ 21.2973
16.	Steven Johnson	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 25.0086
17.	Alex Davison	Irwin / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 27.1664
18.	Cameron McConville	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 57.0469
19.	John McIntyre	SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 1:01.5715
20.	Dean Canto	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash	+ 1:02.1761
21.	Steven Richards	Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing	+ 1:02.6798
22.	Owen Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 1:05.6104
23.	Alan Simonsen	Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing	+ 1:13.2400
24.	James Moffatt	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1:14.5025
25.	Jack Perkins	Supercheap Auto / Paul Morris Motorsport	+ 1:14.8171
26.	Taz Douglas	Wilson Security / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 1:17.7826
27.	Nathan Pretty	Gulf Western Oil / Lucas Dumbrell	+ 1:23.4095
28.	Karl Reindler	Fair Dinkum Sheds / Brad Jones Racing	+ 1:24.3829

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Sprint Race 2

Stone Brothers Racing Ford driver Shane van Gisbergen claimed victory in the second and final grid-deciding race ahead of tomorrow’s ultimate L&H 500.

With his co-driver John McIntyre having made his car’s compulsory pit stop in the first sprint race, all van Gisbergen needed to do was to bide his time while his rivals who needed to pit peeled off into pit lane.

But the New Zealander made sure of a maximum result by making an outstanding start from the front row to leapfrog pole-sitter Jamie Whincup when the 14-lap race got underway.

While Whincup hung on gamely, his inevitable pit stop would send him plummeting down the order, while those drivers whose co-drivers had stopped in the first sprint race were able to move up the order.

Paul Dumbrell claimed second place at the end of the quick race, just managing to fend off the advances of Greg Murphy and Mark Winterbottom for the place, while James Courtney and Rick Kelly were also in close company.

Whiel Whincup would climb up to 12th place by the end of the race, Luke Youlden’s 15th-placed finish proved just enough for the Ford Performance Racing pairing of Davison / Youlden will start from pole for tomorrow’s race.

V8 Supercars L&H 500 Sprint Race 2 Final Classification (14 laps):

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Shane van Gisbergen	SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing	22:34.0272
2.	Paul Dumbrell	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash	+ 9.1748
3.	Greg Murphy	Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing	+ 9.4509
4.	Mark Winterbottom	Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing	+ 9.7472
5.	James Courtney	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 10.8913
6.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 12.0070
7.	Warren Luff	Gulf Western Oil / Lucas Dumbrell	+ 19.2735
8.	Russell Ingall	Supercheap Auto / Paul Morris Motorsport	+ 22.4581
9.	Dale Wood	Wilson Security / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 24.2177
10.	Matt Halliday	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 28.5322
11.	David Wall	Fair Dinkum Sheds / Brad Jones Racing	+ 38.9072
12.	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	+ 42.4875
13.	Mark Skaife	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	+ 50.1712
14.	Nick Percat	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 52.4192
15.	Luke Youlden	Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing	+ 56.2777
16.	Greg Ritter	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 1:02.9108
17.	Craig Baird	Bundaberg Racing / Walkinshaw Racing	+ 1:04.4449
18.	Marcus Marshall	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 1:06.6828
19.	Tim Blanchard	Stratco Racing / Kelly Racing	+ 1:07.5137
20.	David Russell	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 1:11.4324
21.	Daniel Gaunt	Lucky 7 Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 1:15.8808
22.	Michael Patrizi	Triple F Racing	+ 1:17.1434
23.	Paul Morris	VIP Petfoods / Paul Morris Motorsport	+ 1:19.7650
24.	David Besnard	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1:21.3174
25.	Richard Lyons	Mother Energy Racing Team / Tekno	+ 1:26.7615
26.	David Brabham	Irwin / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 1:26.8770
27.	Shane Price	Jana Living Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 1:27.1311
28.	Andrew Jones	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 1:33.0470

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V8 Supercars L&H 500 Final Grid:

	Driver / Co-Driver	Entry / Team
1.	Will Davison / Luke Youlden	Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing
2.	Garth Tander / Nick Percat	TOLL / Holden Racing Team
3.	Shane van Gisbergen / John McIntyre	SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing
4.	Jamie Whincup / Andrew Thompson	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing
5.	Paul Dumbrell / Dean Canto	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash
6.	Craig Lowndes / Mark Skaife	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing
7.	David Reynolds / Tim Blanchard	Stratco Racing / Kelly Racing
8.	Greg Murphy / Allan Simonsen	Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing
9.	Mark Winterbottom / Steve Richards	Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing
10.	James Courtney / Cameron McConville	TOLL / Holden Racing Team
11.	Todd Kelly / David Russell	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing
12.	Rick Kelly / Owen Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing
13.	Michael Caruso / Marcus Marshall	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport
14.	Fabian Coulthard / Craig Baird	Bundaberg Racing / Walkinsaw Racing
15.	Steve Owen / Paul Morris	VIP Petfoods / Paul Morris Motorsport
16.	Lee Holdsworth / Greg Ritter	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport
17.	Warren Luff / Nathan Pretty	Gulf Western Oil / Lucas Dumbrell
18.	Russell Ingall / Jack Perkins	Supercheap Auto / Paul Morris Motorsport
19.	Dale Wood / Taz Douglas	Wilson Security / Tony D’Alberto Racing
20.	James Moffat / Matt Halliday	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing
21.	Tim Slade / Daniel Gaunt	Lucky 7 Racing / Stone Brothers Racing
22.	Jason Bright / Andrew Jones	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing
23.	Dean Fiore / Michael Patrizi	Triple F Racing
24.	Jonathan Webb / Richard Lyons	Mother Energy Racing Team / Tekno
25.	Karl Reindler / David Wall	Fair Dinkum Sheds / Brad Jones Racing
26.	Steven Johnson / David Besnard	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing
27.	Jason Bargwanna / Shane Price	Jana Living Racing / Brad Jones Racing
28.	Alex Davison / David Brabham	Irwin / Stone Brothers Racing