» V8s: Red Bull Racing dominates qualifying at Symmons Plains

Reigning champion Jamie Whincup and teammate Craig Lowndes have secured a front-row lock-out in qualifying for Saturday’s two V8 Supercars Championship races at Symmons Plains, although Lowndes was subsequently stripped of his second qualifying session results for a technical infringement.

With qualifying split into two ten-minute sessions around the high-speed Launceston circuit, Whincup and Lowndes’ Holdens were split by a tiny six-hundredths of a second in the opening session, posting the eventual pole-winning time in the dying seconds of play.

Russell Ingall chased them hard with a sensational third-fastest effort, a result all the more impressive given the limited resources at the Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport team and the veteran not being known for his qualifying prowess. He lines up alongside James Courtney on the second row of the grid.

Ford duo David Reynolds and Mark Winterbottom secured a third-row berth, ahead of the Volvo S60 of Scott McLaughlin, which is still suffering from power steering woes that cropped up in Friday’s practice sessions. Shane van Gisbergen, Chaz Mostert and Will Davison rounded out the top ten.

Nick Percat had his times disallowed after triggering a red flag when he beached his newly-liveried Holden in the Turn 4 gravel trap.

2014 V8 Supercars Tyrepower Tasmania 400 – Race 1 Qualifying:

	Driver	Team / Entry	Result
1.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing / Holden Commodore VF	51.411
2.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.060
3.	Russell Ingall	Repair Management / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.183
4.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.224
5.	David Reynolds	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.244
6.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew FPR / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.251
7.	Scott McLaughlin	Valvoline Racing Polestar GRM / Volvo S60	+ 0.271
8.	Shane van Gisbergen	TEKNO VIP Petfoods / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.295
9.	Chaz Mostert	Pepsi Max Crew FPR / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.303
10.	Will Davison	Erebus Motorsport / Mercedes E63 AMG	+ 0.311
11.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.318
12.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.322
13.	Lee Holdsworth	Erebus Motorsport / Mercedes E63 AMG	+ 0.366
14.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.369
15.	Scott Pye	Wilson Security Racing / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.381
16.	Tim Slade	SuperCheap Auto Racing / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.396
17.	James Moffat	Nissan Hornets / Nissan Altima	+ 0.476
18.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Altima	+ 0.479
19.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Altima	+ 0.482
20.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.544
21.	Robert Dahlgren	Valvoline Racing Polestar GRM / Volvo S60	+ 0.569
22.	Jack Perkins	Jeld-Wen / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.578
23.	Michael Caruso	Nissan Hornets / Nissan Altima	+ 0.590
24.	Dale Wood	Team ADVAM / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.848
25.	Nick Percat	Walkinshaw Racing/ Holden Commodore VF	no time

Qualifying for Saturday’s second race saw Whincup set the early pace before again be deposed by Lowndes, only for the five-time series champion to come through with another pole-winning effort on his second run, claiming the sport by a sizeable 0.2 seconds.

Winterbottom was third-quickest in his Ford, ahead of McLaughlin’s Volvo. Last year’s Symmons Plains winner Fabian Coulthard qualified fifth-quickest, while the Erebus duo of Lee Holdsworth and Will Davison gave the team plenty of smiles with sixth and seventh respectively.

Todd Kelly was eighth-fastest in his Nissan, ensuring all five manufacturers were represented on the first four rows of the grid, while Garth Tander and David Reynolds completed the top-ten. Import racer Robert Dahlgren was eleventh in the second Volvo S60, marking his best qualifying performance so far in the series.

However, everyone bar the two Red Bull Holdens found themselves bumped up one grid slot after Lowndes’ times were disqualified following an investigation by the event stewards. The team was found to have violated the regulations after Lowndes’ car was spotted with blanking tape covering access holes in his car’s driver- and passenger-side windows, which could have given him an aerodynamic advantage along Symmons Plains’ two long straights.

2014 V8 Supercars Tyrepower Tasmania 400 – Race 2 Qualifying:

	Driver	Team / Entry	Result
1.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing / Holden Commodore VF	51.143
2.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew FPR / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.316
3.	Scott McLaughlin	Valvoline Racing Polestar GRM / Volvo S60	+ 0.356
4.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.371
5.	Lee Holdsworth	Erebus Motorsport / Mercedes E63 AMG	+ 0.374
6.	Will Davison	Erebus Motorsport / Mercedes E63 AMG	+ 0.377
7.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Altima	+ 0.408
8.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.410
9.	David Reynolds	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.421
10.	Robert Dahlgren	Valvoline Racing Polestar GRM / Volvo S60	+ 0.448
11.	Jack Perkins	Jeld-Wen / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.470
12.	Scott Pye	Wilson Security Racing / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.482
13.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.509
14.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Altima	+ 0.520
15.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.529
16.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.548
17.	Russell Ingall	Repair Management / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.551
18.	James Moffat	Nissan Hornets / Nissan Altima	+ 0.566
19.	Chaz Mostert	Pepsi Max Crew FPR / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.577
20.	Michael Caruso	Nissan Hornets / Nissan Altima	+ 0.593
21.	Nick Percat	Walkinshaw Racing/ Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.596
22.	Tim Slade	SuperCheap Auto Racing / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.598
23.	Shane van Gisbergen	TEKNO VIP Petfoods / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.605
24.	Dale Wood	Team ADVAM / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.645
EXC.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing / Holden Commodore VF	Excluded