» V8s: Reynolds wins Darwin SuperSprint pole

David Reynolds took a surprise pole position in qualifying for the opening race of the V8 Supercars SkyCity Triple Crown to be held later this afternoon.

The Bottle-O Racing pilot set a rapid 1.09.5 in the Top-10 shootout, which was enough for the 27-year-old to secure his first pole position since the Townsville round of last season.

Reigning champion Jamie Whincup was unable to break Red Bull Racing’s pole-position hoodoo at Hidden Valley Raceway, setting the second-fastest shootout time only fourteen-thousandths of a second short of Reynolds’ blistering lap. Reynolds’ stablemate Will Davison rounded out the top three in his Pepsi Max Falcon, a further six hundredths of a second off pole.

Fourth was James Courtney for HRT ahead of Mark Winterbottom in the second Pepsi Max FPR entry. Jason Bright, Rick Kelly, Shane van Gisbergen, Garth Tander and Craig Lowndes rounded out the top 10.

Lowndes’ error-ridden shootout lap will be all the more disappointing, given he set the fastest time in the 20 minute qualifying session earlier today. The veteran recorded a 1.09.68, fractionally ahead of his Red Bull Racing Australia stable-mate Jamie Whincup.

BJR’s Fabian Coulthard was the disappointment of the Q1 session, missing a spot in the Top 10 Shootout by just five-thousandths of a second. Scott McLaughlin also failed to reserve a place in the Top 10, steering his Garry Rogers Motorsport Commodore to 14th on the grid.

Rick Kelly was the best of the factory Nissan entries managing seventh after an impressive shootout lap, while the Altimas of Todd Kelly and James Moffat were stranded back in 23rd and 27th respectively. Tim Slade guided his Erebus Motorsport Mercedes to 13th, the best of the AMG entries.

The first leg of the 60/60 SuperSprint race kicks off at 15:10 Central Standard Time.

2013 V8 Supercars SkyCity Triple Crown – Race 1 Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Entry / Team	T10 Result
1.	David Reynolds	Bottle-O Racing / Ford Performance Racing	1:09.5034
2.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 0.0138
3.	Will Davison	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.0663
4.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.0862
5.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2225
6.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.3388
7.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.4579
8.	Shane van Gisbergen	VIP Petfoods / Tekno Autosports	+ 0.4593
9.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.8881
10.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 1.1002
	Driver	Entry / Team	Q1 Result*
11.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.3084
12.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.3145
13.	Tim Slade	Heavy Haulage Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 0.3505
14.	Scott McLaughlin	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.4287
15.	Michael Caruso	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.4623
16.	Jonathon Webb	Darrell Lea Racing / Tekno Autosports	+ 0.5003
17.	Dean Fiore	Dodo Insurance / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 0.5040
18.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.5449
19.	Chaz Mostert	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.5508
20.	Tony D’Alberto	Team HIFLEX / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 0.5622
21.	Maro Engel	SP Tools Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 0.5688
22.	Lee Holdsworth	IRWIN Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 0.6128
23.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.6589
24.	Alex Davison	Jeld-Wen Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.8136
25.	Tim Blanchard	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.8542
26.	Scott Pye	EKOL Racing / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 0.8807
27.	James Moffat	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.9382
28.	Russell Ingall	SuperCheap Auto Racing / TWR	+ 1.0841