» V8s: Whincup on pole for Tasmania opener

Reigning V8 Supercars Champion Jamie Whincup will lead the field away from pole position as the series contests its first ever ‘Super Sprint’ races today at Symmons Plains.

The Red Bull Racing Australia driver emerged quickest in this morning’s qualifying session, which was a typically closely-fought affair that saw the five fastest qualifiers covered by less than one-tenth of a second.

The three-time champion finished up just two-hundredths of a second quicker than fellow front-row starter Fabian Coulthard, who continued the Brad Jones Racing team’s evergreen form with another outstanding performance in his Holden Commodore.

Late runs from Mark Winterbottom, Garth Tander and Jason Bright ensured they filled the first five positions on the grid. They will be followed by Will Davison, Shane van Gisbergen, Craig Lowndes, Scott McLaughlin and Alex Davison.

Lowndes’ position should have been much better than what he managed, but his team made a meal of completing a set-up change in time for another run. Ultimately, he finished eighth-fastest, having been second-quickest behind teammate Whincup until the final four minutes of play.

Van Gisbergen was perhaps lucky to qualify as high as he did, after managing to reverse out of the Turn 4 gravel after overcooking his entry into the corner. By managing to emerge from the grid and avoid a red flag, he managed to dodge being sent to the back of the grid.

James Courtney was another driver to endure a tough session, but still manage to claim thirteenth position – a creditable result given his Holden spent much of the twenty-minute session in the garage while his mechanics investigated an undisclosed drama in his Holden.

None of the Nissan or AMG entries managed to crack the top-half of the grid as both new marques’ cars struggled to deliver the torque and top speed necessary to string together a properly competitive lap time around this short circuit. Todd Kelly was the quickest of the lot in his Nissan to qualify twentieth-fastest, half a second off Whincup’s ultimate pace.

Today’s race will be run as two 60-kilometre legs with a fifteen-minute parc ferme break in between. The second half of the race will commence with a double-file rolling start.

2013 V8 Supercars Tasmania Microsoft Office 365 – Race 1 Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	51.1057
2.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.0240
3.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.0460
4.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.0714
5.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.0764
6.	Will Davison	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.1039
7.	Shane van Gisbergen	Team VIP / Tekno Autosports	+ 0.1122
8.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 0.1648
9.	Scott McLaughlin	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.2150
10.	Alex Davison	Jeld-Wen Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2441
11.	David Reynolds	Bottle-O Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2690
12.	Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports	+ 0.3317
13.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.3518
14.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.3661
15.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.3761
16.	Tony D’Alberto	Team HIFLEX / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 0.4032
17.	Russell Ingall	SuperCheap Auto Racing / TWR	+ 0.4045
18.	Scott Pye	EKOL Racing / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 0.4213
19.	Dean Fiore	Dodo Insurance / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 0.4662
20.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.5226
21.	Lee Holdsworth	IRWIN Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 0.5432
22.	James Moffat	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.5716
23.	Tim Slade	Heavy Haulage Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 0.5842
24.	Michael Caruso	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.6831
25.	Maro Engel*	SP Tools Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 0.6925
26.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.7294
27.	Tim Blanchard	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.7638
28.	Jonny Reid	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.9759