» V8s: Whincup fastest in Bathurst qualifying

Reigning V8 Supercars champion Jamie Whincup has claimed provisional pole position in preliminary qualifying for the Bathurst 1000 endurance event, putting himself in prime position to claim the title of pole position winner for Sunday’s 161-lap race.

Whincup set the overall pace in Friday afternoon’s session, posting a 2:07.7145 lap time in the TeamVodafone Holden Commodore he will share with co-driver Paul Dumbrell.

With the TeamVodafone duo of Jamie Whincup and five-time Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes having set the pace over most of the practice sessions, it was a huge surprise to see Fabian Coulthard post the session’s second-fastest time, missing out on top spot by just under eight-hundredths of a second.

The works-supported Ford Performance Racing duo of Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison were third- and fourth-fastest, while Lowndes completed the top-five.

Also making it through to tomorrow’s Top-10 Shootout were Stone Brothers Racing duo Shane van Gisbergen and Tim Slade, along with Garth Tander, Steve Owen and David Reynolds.

Tander’s performance was particularly impressive. The former champion crashed out at Turn 2 in the session’s opening minutes, triggering a red flag while his car was recovered back to pit lane. His Holden Racing Team pit crew worked miracles to get his car repaired, and he managed to scrape into the Top-10 in a heavily bandaged Commodore.

The grid positions from eleventh down are now locked in, while this session’s ten-quickest drivers will head into a one-lap shootout for pole position late Saturday afternoon.

2012 V8 Supercars Bathurst 1000 – Preliminary Qualifying Result:

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Jamie Whincup / Paul Dumbrell	Triple 8 Racing	2:07.7145
2.	Fabian Coulthard / David Besnard	Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.0786
3.	Mark Winterbottom / Steven Richards	Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2086
4.	Will Davison / John McIntyre	Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2151
5.	Craig Lowndes / Warren Luff	Triple 8 Racing	+ 0.2518
6.	Shane van Gisbergen / Luke Youlden	Stone Brothers Racing	+ 0.3654
7.	Tim Slade / Andrew Thompson	Stone Brothers Racing	+ 0.3767
8.	Garth Tander / Nick Percat	Holden Racing Team	+ 0.3900
9.	Steve Owen / Paul Morris	Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.4241
10.	David Reynolds / Dean Canto	Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.5167
11.	Jonathon Webb / Scott McLaughlin	Tekno Autosports	+ 0.5895
12.	Jason Bright / Andrew Jones	Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.6426
13.	Rick Kelly / David Russell	Kelly Racing	+ 0.6780
14.	James Courtney / Cameron McConville	Holden Racing Team	+ 0.7547
15.	Lee Holdsworth / Craig Baird	Stone Brothers Racing	+ 0.8234
16.	Michael Caruso / Greg Ritter	Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.8264
17.	James Moffat / Alex Davison	Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.8704
18.	Steven Johnson / Allan Simonsen	Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.8866
19.	Todd Kelly / Tim Blanchard	Kelly Racing	+ 1.1090
20.	Michael Patrizi / Jonny Reid	Tekno Autosports	+ 1.1095
21.	Dean Fiore / Matt Halliday	Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1.1108
22.	David Wall / Chris Pither	Brad Jones Racing	+ 1.1946
23.	Greg Murphy / Owen Kelly	Kelly Racing	+ 1.2182
24.	Tony D’Alberto / Dale Wood	Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 1.2196
25.	Russell Ingall / Christian Klien	Walkinshaw Racing	+ 1.2677
26.	Alexandre Prémat / Jack Perkins	Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 1.4580
27.	Taz Douglas / Scott Pye	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 1.5231
28.	Karl Reindler / Daniel Gaunt	Kelly Racing	+ 1.6622
29.	Cameron Waters / Jesse Dixon	Kelly Racing	+ 2.7720