» V8s: Whincup on pole for Race 8 at Pukekohe

Jamie Whincup has won pole position for today’s opening V8 Supercars race at Pukekohe Raceway.

The Red Bull Australia driver will resume hostilities with front-row starter Mark Winterbottom, with whom he tangled on the final lap of yesterday’s second race en route to claiming his first win of the 2013 season.

Whincup posted a succession of fast laps late in this morning’s opening fifteen minute qualifying session, which determines the starting order for today’s first 100-kilometre, 35-lap sprint race.

He finished just nine-hundredths of a second quicker than Winterbottom’s Ford, which had undergone repairs after he collided with Whincup trying to claim the win yesterday.

Symmons Plains’ souble race-winner Fabian Coulthatd delighted his local fans with the third-fastest time in the Brad Jones Racing Holden, and he’ll share the second row of the starting grid with James Courtney, who showed an impressive turn of speed in his repaired HRT Commodore, which suffered damage after crashing out in yesterday’s second race.

Will Davison was fifth-fastest in the second of the FPR Fords, while GRM Holden duo Alexandre Premat and Scott McLaughlin – winner of yesterday’s opening race – were sixth- and seventh-quickest respectively.

The top-ten was completed by Shane van Gisbergen, Craig Lowndes and Alex Davison, closely followed by David Reynolds, Jason Bright and Garth Tander.

The improved form of the Nissan Altimas was again in evidence, with James Moffat qualifying quickest of the four cars in fourteenth place, fractions ahead of Rick Kelly.

The Erebus AMG entries again struggled for outright pace, with Lee Holdsworth the best of the trio in 23rd spot.

The field will quickly regroup for another fifteen-minute qualifying dash to determine the grid order for today’s closing race.

2013 V8 Supercars ITM400 Auckland – Race 3 Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	1:02.7001
2.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.0916
3.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.1209
4.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.2359
5.	Will Davison	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2384
6.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.2690
7.	Scott McLaughlin	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.2824
8.	Shane van Gisbergen	VIP Petfoods / Tekno Autosports	+ 0.3432
9.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 0.3654
10.	Alex Davison	Jeld-Wen Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.4922
11.	David Reynolds	Bottle-O Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.5438
12.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.5509
13.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.5615
14.	James Moffat	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.6016
15.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.6283
16.	Dean Fiore	Dodo Insurance / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 0.6509
17.	Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports	+ 0.6682
18.	Michael Caruso	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.7046
19.	Russell Ingall	SuperCheap Auto Racing / TWR	+ 0.7332
20.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.8052
21.	Tony D’Alberto	Team HIFLEX / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 0.8600
22.	Tim Blanchard	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.8754
23.	Lee Holdsworth	IRWIN Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 0.8837
24.	Tim Slade	Heavy Haulage Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 0.9353
25.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.9630
26.	Maro Engel	SP Tools Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 1.0883
27.	Jonny Reid	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1.2714