» V8s: Coulthard tops Bathurst provisional qualifying

Fabian Coulthard will be the final runner to contest Saturday afternoon’s Top-10 Shootout to determine pole position for the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 after topping a rain-affected provisional qualifying session at Mount Panorama.

Rescheduled and reduced to 30 minutes after Chaz Mostert’s crash in the first attempt at qualifying on Friday afternoon, the session began under heavy skies.

The entire field was out on track early to try and get a clear run at a timed lap before the expected rainfall, with the cloudburst eventually coming at the halfway mark.

The track conditions deteriorated and with no further opportunity to improve their lap times, a number of drivers were left to rue mistakes and traffic on their earlier runs.

Coulthard made the best of his early laps to post a 2:06.1838 – over a second slower than the time he managed in final practice earlier in the day – and finished up a quarter of a second clear of fellow New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen.

Tim Slade and reigning champion Jamie Whincup ensured Holden would lock out the top-four positions on the timesheets, while Scott Pye was the fastest non-Holden runner in his DJR Team Penske Ford.

Jason Bright (Brad Jones Racing Holden), Scott McLaughlin (Polestar Volvo), David Reynolds (Bottle-O Racing Ford), Lee Holdsworth (Walkinshaw Holden) and James Moffat (Nissan) completed the top-ten and will contest the Shootout session later in the day.

The session was disastrous for a number of more-fancied runners, including championship leader Mark Winterbottom, who will start from fourteenth place in his Prodrive Racing Ford.

He will line up one spot ahead of five-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes, with both drivers on course to make the Top-10 when the heavens opened on their second flying runs.

Both Holden Racing Team runners were well down the order, with Jack Perkins qualifying 17th-fastest and Garth Tander 22nd.

The Top-10 Shootout for pole starts at 5:10pm local time (GMT +11).

2015 V8 Supercars SuperCheap Auto Bathurst 1000 – Preliminary Qualifying Results
Pos	Driver / Co-Driver	Team / Entry	Time
1.	Fabian Coulthard / Luke Youlden	Brad Jones Racing	2:06.1838
2.	Shane van Gisbergen / Jonathon Webb	TEKNO Autosports	+ 0.2632
3.	Tim Slade / Tony D’Alberto	Walkinshaw Performance	+ 0.3225
4.	Jamie Whincup / Paul Dumbrell	Red Bull Racing / Triple 8	+ 0.3410
5.	Scott Pye / Marcos Ambrose	DJR Team Penske	+ 0.3818
6.	Jason Bright / Andrew Jones	Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.4161
7.	Scott McLaughlin / Alexandre Premat	Polestar GRM Volvo	+ 0.5339
8.	David Reynolds / Dean Canto	The Bottle-O Racing Team	+ 0.5975
9.	Lee Holdsworth / Sébastien Bourdais	Walkinshaw Performance	+ 0.6958
10.	James Moffat / Taz Douglas	Nissan Motorsport	+ 0.7309
11.	Will Davison / Alex Davison	Erebus Motorsport V8	+ 0.7858
12.	Andre Heimgartner / Ant Pedersen	Super Black Racing	+ 0.8545
13.	Dale Wood / Macauley Jones	Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.9846
14.	Mark Winterbottom / Steve Owen	Prodrive Racing Australia	+ 1.0234
15.	Craig Lowndes / Steven richards	Red Bull Racing / Triple 8	+ 1.0748
16.	Todd Kelly / Alex Buncombe	Nissan Motorsport	+ 1.1235
17.	Jack Perkins / Russell Ingall	Holden Racing Team	+ 1.1931
18.	Michael Caruso / Dean Fiore	Nissan Motorsport	+ 1.1979
19.	Rick Kelly / David Russell	Nissan Motorsport	+ 1.3837
20.	David Wall / Chris Pither	Polestar GRM Volvo	+ 1.7926
21.	Nick Percat / Oliver Gavin	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 1.8758
22.	Garth Tander / Warren Luff	Holden Racing Team	+ 1.8918
23.	Tim Blanchard / Karl Reindler	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 2.6949
24.	Aaren Russell / Drew Russell	Novocastrian Motorsport	+ 3.0941
25.	Simona de Silvestro / Renee Gracie	Harvey Norman Supergirls	+ 3.4646
11.	Ash Walsh / Jack Le Brocq	Erebus Motorsport V8	+ 4.3955
WD.	Chaz Mostert / Cameron Waters	Prodrive Racing Australia	withdrew