Shane van Gisbergen has made the perfect start to his Supercars title defence, scoring the ARMOR ALL Pole Award for Race 1 at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide.
Van Gisbergen was the last out in the Top 10 Shootout, stopping the clocks at 1:19.5723s to edge Shell V-Power Racing’s Fabian Coulthard by 0.0442s.
“It’s pretty awesome,” beamed the Red Bull Holden Racing Team driver.
“I knew Fabian’s was the fastest time of the weekend so it was going to be tough.
“But the track was grippy after the Super2 race and the car was awesome.”
Chaz Mostert finished the Shootout in third, proving best of the three Prodrive Fords.
“Those front two guys are bloody quick,” he said afterwards.
“I put a foot or two wrong but it’s been a pretty good start for us.
“We’ll keep fine tuning it because there’s more in the car and perhaps a little more in myself.”
Three-time race winner at the Clipsal 500 James Courtney will start from fourth place, matching his effort from Friday qualifying.
Fords will fill the third row with Mark Winterbottom starting alongside Scott McLaughlin, who lost his shot at pole with a lock-up at Turn 9.
“I just locked the rears at the wrong moment,” he said. “That’s how it goes.”
Six-time series champion Jamie Whincup failed to improve from his seventh in qualifying, admitting his lap was far from perfect.
“Not the cleanest lap I’ve done,” he said.
“The car was good, but I was a little bit wide at the first chicane and dropped some time.”
Rick Kelly was the biggest slider in the field, dropping from third to eighth.
“I didn’t get the most out of the lap,” he rued.
“I made an error at Turn 7 which lost us a bit of momentum.
“I think the car is good enough for third or fourth, so it’s a little disappointing.”
Cameron Waters will start from ninth while an early mistake from David Reynolds kept him in 10th place.
“It’s a little bit average in my terms, but my foot slipped off the brake pedal at Turn 1,” admitted Waters.
The first of two 250km races for the weekend will get underway at 1520 local time.
CLICK HERE for the full Top 10 Shootout result.
