» V8s: A maiden pole for McLaughlin

Scott McLaughlin has scored the first pole position of his V8 Supercars career – and Volvo’s first in its return to Australian touring car racing – in qualifying for today’s 200-kilometre feature race at Winton Raceway.

Amazingly, this was the talented youngster’s first ever pole position in his Australian touring car career. Despite winning the 2012 Dunlop V8 feeder series championship, McLaughlin had never once stuck his car on pole position.

“I have been trying to do for about four years, in the Dunlop series and here. To do it in the V8 Supercars main game is a special thing,” he beamed after this morning’s qualifying session.

“But I couldn’t do it without these guys and to get the first pole for Volvo is a special thing.”

The New Zealand drivers once again dominated qualifying, with McLaughlin and his compatriots, Shane van Gisbergen and Race 1 winner Fabian Coulthard, claiming a Kiwi 1-2-3 on the grid. The trio was covered by just seven-hundredths of a second on the stopwatch.

Despite the solid pace he has shown all weekend, McLaughlin hasn’t been able to convert this into results around the low-speed Victorian circuit this weekend. He retired from yesterday’s opening race with an engine failure, while Race 2 saw him have to pit from the lead with electrical issues.

Behind the top three came Mark Winterbottom, Craig Lowndes and James Courtney, with Rick Kelly the best of the Nissan runners in seventh. The Walkinshaw Holdens of Tim Slade and Nick Percat were next up, with Race 1 podium finisher Dale Wood completing the top ten.

Defending series champion Jamie Whincup had another poor qualifying session by his own standards, managing no better than the thirteenth-fastest time in his Red Bull Racing Holden. Garth Tander also qualified well down the field in his HRT Holden.

Surprisingly off the pace were the Erebus AMG Mercedes’ of Will Davison (20th) and Race 2 winner Lee Holdsworth (22nd), who sandwiched Robert Dahlgren’s Volvo S60.

Today’s 200-kilometre race kicks off at 3:30pm local time (GMT +10).

2014 V8 Supercars Winton 400 – Race 3 Qualifying:

	Driver	Team / Entry	Result
1.	Scott McLaughlin	Valvoline Racing Polestar GRM / Volvo S60	1:21.509
2.	Shane van Gisbergen	TEKNO VIP Petfoods / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.061
3.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.078
4.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew FPR / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.127
5.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.153
6.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.221
7.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Altima	+ 0.250
8.	Tim Slade	SuperCheap Auto Racing / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.328
9.	Nick Percat	Walkinshaw Racing/ Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.337
10.	Dale Wood	Team ADVAM / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.379
11.	David Reynolds	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.398
12.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.413
13.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.455
14.	Michael Caruso	Nissan Hornets / Nissan Altima	+ 0.475
15.	Chaz Mostert	Pepsi Max Crew FPR / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.491
16.	Russell Ingall	Repair Management / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.517
17.	James Moffat	Nissan Hornets / Nissan Altima	+ 0.525
18.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / Holden Commodore VF	+ 0.557
19.	Scott Pye	Wilson Security Racing / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.593
20.	Will Davison	Erebus Motorsport / Mercedes E63 AMG	+ 0.640
21.	Robert Dahlgren	Valvoline Racing Polestar GRM / Volvo S60	+ 0.725
22.	Lee Holdsworth	Erebus Motorsport / Mercedes E63 AMG	+ 0.816
23.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Altima	+ 0.825
24.	Jack Perkins	Jeld-Wen / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.856
25.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Ford Falcon FG	+ 0.856