» V8s: Van Gisbergen on pole for Sydney finale

Shane van Gisbergen has book-ended the 2013 V8 Supercars Championship season by claiming pole position in the year’s final race at Sydney Olympic Park.

The New Zealander upstaged the more-fancied factory outfits to claim pole position on his final timed lap of the twenty-minute session, edging out Jason Bright by six-hundredths of a second.

Van Gisbergen was the only driver to dip below the 1m28s barrier in the session, posting the fastest time despite almost getting tripped up by a slow Scott Pye between Turns 10 and 11.

Champion-elect Jamie Whincup finished the session third-fastest, despite some scraping of the walls, which caused minor steering damage to his Red Bull Racing Australia Holden.

Mark Winterbottom – whose slim championship hopes ended with retirement in yesterday’s race – finished fourth-fastest and the best-placed Ford runner, just over one-tenth of a second faster than teammate Will Davison.

Scott McLaughlin, Jonathon Webb, Tony D’Alberto, Craig Lowndes and Alex Davison completed the top-ten.

Lowndes’ ninth place will be disappointing for all concerned, including the many fans who have flocked to the circuit in the hope of seeing he and his teammate battle for title honours this afternoon.

The series veteran was provisionally second-fastest after the first sequence of runs, but fell down the timesheets as others improved. With Whincup needing a twenty-first-placed finish or better to secure a fifth Drivers’ Championship crown, Lowndes will need a very good run in this afternoon’s 74-lap race.

2013 V8 Supercars Sydney 500 – Race 2 Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Entry / Team	Top-10 Result
1.	Shane van Gisbergen	VIP Petfoods / Tekno Autosports	1:27.9956
2.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.0615
3.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 0.1762
4.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2986
5.	Will Davison	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.4036
6.	Scott McLaughlin	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.4342
7.	Jonathon Webb	Darrell Lea Racing / Tekno Autosports	+ 0.4795
8.	Tony D’Alberto	Team HIFLEX / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 0.5648
9.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 0.5748
10.	Alex Davison	Jeld-Wen Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.6165
11.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.6559
12.	Nick Percat	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.7545
13.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.7908
14.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 0.7920
15.	Michael Caruso	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.8353
16.	Chaz Mostert	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.9077
17.	David Reynolds	Bottle-O Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.9185
18.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.9571
19.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.9931
20.	Tim Slade	Heavy Haulage Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 1.0132
21.	Lee Holdsworth	IRWIN Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 1.0883
22.	Tim Blanchard	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1.2132
23.	James Moffat	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 1.3304
24.	Russell Ingall	SuperCheap Auto Racing / TWR	+ 1.3997
25.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 1.4138
26.	Dean Fiore	Dodo Insurance / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 1.6903
27.	Maro Engel	SP Tools Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 2.0809
28.	Scott Pye	EKOL Racing / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 2.9877