» V8s: Coulthard, Winterbottom share qualifying honours at Phillip Island

Fabian Coulthard and Mark Winterbottom have claimed pole position for today’s two respective 100-kilometre races at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit after coming out on top in this morning’s two fifteen-minute qualifying sessions.

Coulthard managed to edge out his Brad Jones Racing teammate Jason Bright for top spot in the closing minutes of the session, bumping Bright off a provisional top spot with a time that was 0.19 seconds quicker.

Mark Winterbottom and Jamie Whincup will share the second row of the grid, while Chaz Mostert was fifth-fastest from Shane van Gisbergen, who copped plenty of criticism for his wild driving in yesterday’s SuperSprint race.

David Wall, Craig Lowndes, Alex Davison and David Reynolds completed the top-ten, with Reynolds recovering from an early right-rear puncture.

Saturday racewinner Garth Tander qualified only fourteenth, having spent might of the session in the garage while his HRT mechanics investigated an engine issue in his Holden Commodore.

2013 V8 Supercars Phillip Island 360 – Race 2 Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	1:30.8539
2.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.1878
3.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2960
4.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 0.3860
5.	Chaz Mostert	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.4336
6.	Shane van Gisbergen	VIP Petfoods / Tekno Autosports	+ 0.4514
7.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.4884
8.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 0.5555
9.	Alex Davison	Jeld-Wen Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.5781
10.	David Reynolds	Bottle-O Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.5800
11.	Scott Pye	EKOL Racing / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 0.6653
12.	Michael Caruso	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.6950
13.	Will Davison	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.7244
14.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.7662
15.	Tony D’Alberto	Team HIFLEX / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 0.8505
16.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.9317
17.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 1.0441
18.	Tim Blanchard	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1.0544
19.	James Moffat	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 1.0657
20.	Lee Holdsworth	IRWIN Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 1.3114
21.	Russell Ingall	SuperCheap Auto Racing / TWR	+ 1.4640
22.	Jonathon Webb	Darrell Lea Racing / Tekno Autosports	+ 1.6022
23.	Scott McLaughlin	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 1.6112
24.	Maro Engel	SP Tools Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 1.8877
25.	Tim Slade	Heavy Haulage Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 2.0048
26.	Dean Fiore	Dodo Insurance / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 2.1455
NQ.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / TWR	Withdrawn
NQ.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	Withdrawn

The second qualifying session saw Winterbottom set the early pace in his FPR Falcon. While the championship contender was temporarily overhauled by Lowndes and Coulthard in their second flying runs, ‘Frosty’ bounced back with a 1:30.6765 lap-time to nudge Lowndes back into second place.

The pair will share the front row for Sunday’s final race, giving them another chance to resume hostilities after a fractious race in Saturday, which saw Winterbottom squeeze Lowndes off the road at the final corner.

While the stewards initially deemed the incident as merely part of racing, Lowndes’ Red Bull Racing Australia team protested the ruling, only to have the original ruling upheld at its second hearing.

The Brad Jones Racing pairing of Bright and Coulthard secured the second row of the grid after their front-row lockout in the earlier session.

Jamie Whincup, Shane van Gisbergen, Scott Pye, Michael Caruso, Chaz Mostert and Will Davison rounded out the top ten.

Both races will have a reduced 26-car field, with James Courtney and Alexandre Premat both forced to withdraw from any further action after their enormous accident in Saturday’s SuperSprint event.

2013 V8 Supercars Phillip Island 360 – Race 3 Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	1:30.6765
2.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 0.0928
3.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.1279
4.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.1904
5.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 0.4235
6.	Shane van Gisbergen	VIP Petfoods / Tekno Autosports	+ 0.4729
7.	Scott Pye	EKOL Racing / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 0.5052
8.	Michael Caruso	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.5099
9.	Chaz Mostert	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.5143
10.	Will Davison	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.5541
11.	David Reynolds	Bottle-O Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.5611
12.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.6497
13.	James Moffat	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.7448
14.	Alex Davison	Jeld-Wen Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.7541
15.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.7555
16.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.7748
17.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.8781
18.	Tim Blanchard	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.8959
19.	Tony D’Alberto	Team HIFLEX / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 0.9296
20.	Russell Ingall	SuperCheap Auto Racing / TWR	+ 1.0427
21.	Scott McLaughlin	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 1.1222
22.	Tim Slade	Heavy Haulage Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 1.1240
23.	Maro Engel	SP Tools Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 1.2224
24.	Jonathon Webb	Darrell Lea Racing / Tekno Autosports	+ 1.2395
25.	Lee Holdsworth	IRWIN Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 1.3934
26.	Dean Fiore	Dodo Insurance / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 1.5514
NQ.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / TWR	Withdrawn
NQ.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	Withdrawn