• Latest
  • Trending
Jamie Whincup scores Darwin pole with ‘zero to hero’ shootout

Jamie Whincup scores Darwin pole with ‘zero to hero’ shootout

August 22, 2020
McLaughlin as prepared as he can be for IndyCar opener

McLaughlin as prepared as he can be for IndyCar opener

April 15, 2021
Shane Hodgson enters Super Production; expects Porsche to be quick

Shane Hodgson enters Super Production; expects Porsche to be quick

April 15, 2021
Keeping up with the Kiwis, your guide to the action: April 16-18

Keeping up with the Kiwis, your guide to the action: April 16-18

April 15, 2021
Dayle ITM racers aiming to sign off Toyota 86 seasons on a high

Dayle ITM racers aiming to sign off Toyota 86 seasons on a high

April 15, 2021
Racer Products V8s Title to be Decided at Taupo

Racer Products V8s Title to be Decided at Taupo

April 15, 2021
Famous colours for Bamber

Famous colours for Bamber

April 15, 2021
Mad Mike: I was told I wouldn’t walk again

Mad Mike: I was told I wouldn’t walk again

April 14, 2021
TR86 trio go down to the wire for 2021 title

TR86 trio go down to the wire for 2021 title

April 14, 2021
Rollinson racks up test laps ahead of TCR NZ championship

Rollinson racks up test laps ahead of TCR NZ championship

April 14, 2021
MotorSport New Zealand establishes sustainability fund

MotorSport New Zealand establishes sustainability fund

April 14, 2021
Kiwi Driver Fund looking to find new partners

Kiwi Driver Fund looking to find new partners

April 14, 2021
Thursday, April 15, 2021
VelocityNews
Classifieds
Subscribe
  • News
    • International
      • Formula 1
      • Formula 2
      • Formula 3
      • Formula E
      • Esports
      • Super GT
      • Super Formula
      • TCR
      • WEC
      • GT
      • Porsche Carrera Cup
      • BTCC
      • DTM
      • IMSA
      • IndyCar
      • NASCAR
      • WRC
      • MotoGP
      • Motorcycle Racing
      • Classic
    • New Zealand
      • Toyota Race Series
      • Toyota 86
      • Rally
      • Speedway
      • Drifting
      • Formula Ford
      • Formula First
      • TCR NZ
      • TransTasman V8 Series
      • V8 Utes
      • GTRNZ
      • Central Muscle Cars
      • Pirelli Porsche
      • Mazda Racing Series
      • NIERDC
      • SIERDC
      • SsangYong Utes
      • Kartsport
      • NZ General
    • Australia
      • Supercars
      • Super2
      • Australian V8 Touring Car Series
      • S5000
      • Australian GT
      • TCR AU
    • General
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Profile
    • Race Cars
  • Calendar
  • Results
  • Velocity TV
  • Performance Cars
  • Classifieds
    • Classifieds
    • Post Classified
    • Manage your listings
  • Jobs
    • Jobs
    • Post a Job
    • Job Dashboard
No Result
View All Result
VelocityNews
No Result
View All Result

Jamie Whincup scores Darwin pole with ‘zero to hero’ shootout

by Matthew Hansen
August 22, 2020
in General
0

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Simon Evans expecting exciting Toyota 86 title showdown

Queen of the Nürburgring, Sabine Schmitz, passes away

After a chaotic qualifying and shootout, Jamie Whincup has claimed pole for the opening race of the Coregas Darwin SuperSprint. Scott McLaughlin will start from second place as lead Kiwi.

It was an erratic set of sessions for Whincup on the way to his 87th Supercars career pole — having only scraped into the shootout in 13th position. James Courtney and Cameron Waters will make for an all-Tickford second row, ahead of Lee Holdsworth and Anton de Pasquale.

Qualifying

Former Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom claimed provisional pole — rounding out a clear upswing in speed for Team18, with Winterbottom’s teammate Scott Pye fourth. Fabian Coulthard wound up second behind Bryce Fullwood, and Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen ended up fifth and sixth.

Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters spent a good chunk of the Q1 leading the standings, until a quick lap from Scott Pye put the Dewalt driver to first position. His 1:06.382 was three tenths quicker than Waters, and raised the question of weather.

Up until that point all the times had been set in perfect sunny considitions, but it was thought that some cloud cover would mean quicker lap-times. With four minutes to go the field returned to the track for the rush-hour push; Pye and Waters chased by Chaz Mostert, Mark Winterbottom, Rick Kelly, James Courtney, and Andre Heimgartner.

Vacant from the lead order were both DJR Team Penske entries and both Red Bull Holden Racing Team entries. The four drivers had all elected to preserve a run on their tyres, in the hope of saving some tyre condition for the shootout or later in the session. Conversely, Pye and Winterbottom finished Q1 early.

McLaughlin rocketed to the top, with Jamie Whincup, Shane van Gisbergen, and Fabian Coulthard also improving — but not so drastically. When the dust settled, McLaughlin led Pye, Whincup, Nick Percat, Coulthard, Waters, Mostert, Winterbottom, Lee Holdsworth, and van Gisbergen. Missing the cut for Q2 was Garry Jacobson, Chris Pither, Todd Hazelwood, and Jack Smith.

As the field quickly turned around for Q2 to set the order for the Top 15 shootout, the early phase featured even more shadow on the circuit. While the Red Bull entries elected to again skip the first half of the 10-minute session, the Penske pair and almost everyone else registered a lap.

Again, an interesting mix of drivers led proceedings early; Winterbottom on a 1:06.257 leading a much improved Bryce Fullwood, Coulthard, Pye, McLaughlin, Waters, and Percat as the clock ticked over halfway.

It wasn’t until the last two minutes that the next wave of times would come in. A large portion of teams elected to stay in pit-lane and watch the chaos. While van Gisbergen’s 1:06.467 made him safe for a shootout berth, but they same could’t be said of Whincup’s initial time — good enough only ot 12th.

A late push from Mostert dropped Whincup down one spot, but the seven-day champ would sneak in in 13th. Less lucky was David Reynolds, who was the first of the cars to drop out and miss the shootout. Rick Kelly, Macauley Jones, Alex Davison, and Zane Goddard also missed out on the shootout, having finished 17th through to 20th.

At the front Winterbottom was untouched, continuing Team18’s strong speed. Fullwood, Pye, Coulthard, McLaughlin, van Gisbergen, Waters, Percat, Anton de Pasquale, Holdsworth, James Courtney, Mostert, Whincup, Jack Le Brocq, and Andre Heimgartner would complete the grid for the shootout.

Shootout

Whincup was the first driver to set a representative shootout time, clocking in with a very quick 1:06.138 — the fastest time of the day thus far. It was quicker than Heimgartner and Le Brocq’s times, and couldn’t be beaten by Mostert, Courtney, or Holdsworth (the latter nevertheless doing well on used tyres).

By the time de Pasquale and Percat had completed their times to sit fourth and fifth, Whincup’s time was still more than two tenths quicker than anyone elses.

As Waters completed his lap, all but equalling the time that got him into the shootout (placing him third), it looked like Whincup’s time might have been impossible to beat. It wouldn’t be his teammate that would beat him, either — van Gisbergen slotting into seventh.

Next out was McLaughlin; perhaps one of the few able to truly threaten Whincup’s time. After an exciting first sector, the series leader appeared to shadow Whincup’s time. By the end of the second sector the pair were separated by less than a tenth.

In the end, he was six hundredths off Whincup; taking second on a 1:06.201.

Pye looked on to set a time close to McLaughlin’s only to spoil his final sector. Coulthard was next, similarly spoiling his lap with a rough second and third sector. This left just Fullwood and Winterbottom to challenge for pole.

At his home event, Fullwood produced an untidy lap with a fluffed run through the final corner and a wide moment at turn one. Still, he was able to salvage ninth ahead of his teammate.

This just left Winterbottom, who was determined to file a cleaner time than those before him. A brief moment at turn 10 blotted what was otherwise a well executed lap. In the end he would end up seventh — handing Whincup pole over McLaughlin, Courtney, and Waters.

PosDriverGap
1Jamie Whincup1:06.138
2Scott McLaughlin0.063
3James Courtney0.263
4Cameron Waters0.318
5Lee HoldsworthDavid Reynolds0.347
6Anton de Pasquale0.354
7Mark Winterbottom0.358
8Scott Pye0.377
9Nick Percat0.389
10Bryce Fullwood0.401
11Shane van Gisbergen0.455
12Chaz Mostert0.479
13Andre Heimgartner0.581
14Fabian Coulthard0.616
15Jack Le Brocq0.670
16David Reynolds
17Rick Kelly
18Macauley Jones
19Alex Davison
20Zane Goddard
21Garry Jacobson
22Chris Pither
23Todd Hazelwood
24Jack Smith

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

McLaughlin as prepared as he can be for IndyCar opener

Shane Hodgson enters Super Production; expects Porsche to be quick

Keeping up with the Kiwis, your guide to the action: April 16-18

Dayle ITM racers aiming to sign off Toyota 86 seasons on a high

Racer Products V8s Title to be Decided at Taupo

Famous colours for Bamber

Bringing you the latest motorsport news in New Zealand and around the world

Managing editor and publisher:
Mark Petch mark@velocitynews.co.nz

Motorsport Editor:
Matthew Hansen matt@velocitynews.co.nz

Motorsport Editor:
Alex Schultz alex@velocitynews.co.nz

Motor Racing Editor:
Zane Shackleton zane@velocitynews.co.nz

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact Us

© 2020 VelocityNews - Independent New Zealand and International Motorsport news.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • International
      • Formula 1
      • Formula 2
      • Formula 3
      • Formula E
      • Esports
      • Super GT
      • Super Formula
      • TCR
      • WEC
      • GT
      • Porsche Carrera Cup
      • BTCC
      • DTM
      • IMSA
      • IndyCar
      • NASCAR
      • WRC
      • MotoGP
      • Motorcycle Racing
      • Classic
    • New Zealand
      • Toyota Race Series
      • Toyota 86
      • Rally
      • Speedway
      • Drifting
      • Formula Ford
      • Formula First
      • TCR NZ
      • TransTasman V8 Series
      • V8 Utes
      • GTRNZ
      • Central Muscle Cars
      • Pirelli Porsche
      • Mazda Racing Series
      • NIERDC
      • SIERDC
      • SsangYong Utes
      • Kartsport
      • NZ General
    • Australia
      • Supercars
      • Super2
      • Australian V8 Touring Car Series
      • S5000
      • Australian GT
      • TCR AU
    • General
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Profile
    • Race Cars
  • Calendar
  • Results
  • Velocity TV
  • Performance Cars
  • Classifieds
    • Classifieds
    • Post Classified
    • Manage your listings
  • Jobs
    • Jobs
    • Post a Job
    • Job Dashboard

© 2020 VelocityNews - Independent New Zealand and International Motorsport news.