Photo Credit: FOX MOTORSPORT
Shane Van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin have made it an all-Kiwi front row for the second race of the Superloop Adelaide 500 race weekend. Saturday’s race winner Jamie Whincup had to settle for seventh in the shootout.
First Session
Lee Holdsworth set the pace early on with 1:20.907, but the session would be red-flagged after Jack Smith hit the wall at turn eight, rendering the 20 year-old out of contention for the rest of qualifying.
When the session resumed, Holdsworth continued to improve on his time to keep himself on top of the time sheets.
Fabian Coulthard managed to achieve second to advance into the second session whilst Rick Kelly achieved fourth place to join him. Kelly’s team-mate Andre Heimgartner struggled to match the pace and failed to progress as a consequence.
Jack LeBrocq bolstered himself into the top four to advance into the second session, at the expense of Todd Hazelwood.
Second Session
Will Davison was the early pace-setter for the second session before being eclipsed by Jamie Whincup with five minutes remaining in the session.
David Reynolds was hampered early in the session after the #9 Erebus Motorsport entry developed a misfire.
Coulthard took advantage of a clear track to put himself up into second place and into the top ten shootout. Team-mate Scott McLaughlin was the first driver to post a time in the 1m 19s. Jamie Whincup and Cameron Waters followed suit.
A kerb strike late into the session nulled any chance for Mark Winterbottom to improve on his time, finishing 12th in the session.
As the chequered flag dropped, the top ten shootout candidates were Whincup, Waters, McLaughlin, Davison, Van Gisbergen, Holdsworth, Mostert, Coulthard, Kelly and de Pasquale.
Top Ten Shootout
Anton de Pasquale was the first runner in the shootout, setting the early benchmark of 1:20.516.
In Rick Kelly’s first shootout appearance of the year, the 2006 champion managed to eclipse de Pasquale, with a time almost two-tenths faster than the Erebus driver.
Through a relatively tidy lap, Coulthard achieved a low 1m 20 laptime to put himself ahead of Kelly and de Pasquale.
Mostert could not replicate the pace set by Coulthard in the first two sectors, but managed to pull back some time in the final sector to go ahead of Coutlhard in the timing sheets.
Holdsworth’s strategy of running used tyres for his shootout run didn’t quite pay off, with the Tickford driver falling in behind Mostert and Coulthard.
It was four new tyres for Van Gisbergen, who was the first driver to set a time below the 20’s, with a 1:19.810.
Will Davison started off his lap well, and was set to eclipse Van Gisbergen’s time. Unfortunately, the 23Red Racing driver locked up at the final corner, forcing him to run wide, losing him almost three-tenths to fall in behind Van Gisbergen.
McLaughlin pulled off a tidy lap, only to miss out on Van Gisbergen’s time by three-hundredths of a second.
Waters’ pace increased as his shootout lap progressed. But it was only good enough for 4th position.
Whincup demonstrated the pace early on in the lap, but mistakes in the last sector saw the seven-time champion have to settle for seventh.
Combined qualifying results
1. Shane Van Gisbergen – Triple Eight Race Engineering
2. Scott McLaughlin – DJR Team Penske
3. Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
4. Will Davison – 23Red Racing
5. Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
6. Fabian Coulthard – DJR Team Penske
7. Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight Race Engineering
8. Lee Holdsworth – Tickford Racing
9. Rick Kelly – Kelly Racing
10. Anton de Pasquale – Erebus Motorsport
11. Jack LeBrocq – Tickford Racing
12. Mark Winterbottom – Charlie Schwerkolt Racing
13. Nick Percat – Brad Jones Racing
14. David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport
15. Todd Hazelwood – Brad Jones Racing
16. Scott Pye – Charlie Schwerkolt Racing
17. Bryce Fullwood – Walkinshaw Andretti United
18. Macauley Jones – Tim Blanchard Racing
19. Andre Heimgartner – Kelly Racing
20. Garry Jacobson – Matt Stone Racing
21. Zane Goddard – Matt Stone Racing
22. James Courtney – Team Sydney
23. Chris Pither – Team Sydney
24. Jack Smith – Brad Jones Racing