Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes claimed pole positions for V8 Supercars’ season-opening races in Adelaide, as Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin secured a surprising front-row start. Triple Eight duo Whincup and Lowndes dominated the day, with the reigning champion claiming the top spot in the first 15-minute qualifying race ahead of his team-mate. Lowndes, however, fought back in the second heat to beat McLaughlin by 0.1103 seconds, as the Kiwi secured a front-row slot for Volvo in the new S60’s debut in the series.
Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom qualified third for the first race in the quickest Ford, ahead of Holden Racing Team’s James Courtney and McLaughlin. Whincup, Jason Bright and Winterbottom completed the top five on the race-two grid, ahead of the top Mercedes of Lee Holdsworth. Todd Kelly and Michael Carusso secured seventh places for race one and race two respectively as the fastest qualifiers for Nissan. The first two races will take place on Saturday, with another qualifying session on Sunday ahead of the final race of the weekend.
Race one qualifying:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Holden 1m20.5849s
2. Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Holden 1m20.7367s +0.1518s
3. Mark Winterbottom FPR Ford 1m20.8204s +0.2355s
4. James Courtney HRT Holden 1m20.8312s +0.2463s
5. Scott McLaughlin GRM Volvo 1m20.8350s +0.2501s
6. Shane van Gisbergen Tekno Holden 1m20.8459s +0.2610s
7. Todd Kelly Nissan 1m20.9231s +0.3382s
8. Scott Pye Dick Johnson Ford 1m20.9479s +0.3630s
9. Tim Slade Walkinshaw/HRT Holden 1m20.9603s +0.3754s
10. Fabian Coulthard Brad Jones Holden 1m21.0592s +0.4743s
11. Chaz Mostert FPR Ford 1m21.0598s +0.4749s
12. Michael Caruso Nissan 1m21.0719s +0.4870s
13. Jason Bright Brad Jones Holden 1m21.1735s +0.5886s
14. Rick Kelly Nissan 1m21.1935s +0.6086s
15. Garth Tander HRT Holden 1m21.2250s +0.6401s
16. Lee Holdsworth Erebus Mercedes 1m21.3285s +0.7436s
17. James Moffat Nissan 1m21.3611s +0.7762s
18. Russell Ingall Dumbrell Holden 1m21.4766s +0.8917s
19. Dale Wood Britek/BJR Holden 1m21.5583s +0.9734s
20. David Wall Dick Johnson Ford 1m21.5764s +0.9915s
21. Robert Dahlgren GRM Volvo 1m21.7651s +1.1802s
22. David Reynolds Rod Nash/FPR Ford 1m21.8145s +1.2296s
23. Jack Perkins Schwerkolt/FPR Ford 1m22.1294s +1.5445s
24. Will Davison Erebus Mercedes 1m22.4255s +1.8406s
25. Nick Percat Rosenberg/HRT Holden 1m23.3727s +2.7878s
Race two qualifying:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Holden 1m20.4155s
2. Scott McLaughlin GRM Volvo 1m20.5258s +0.1103s
3. Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Holden 1m20.5699s +0.1544s
4. Jason Bright Brad Jones Holden 1m20.6474s +0.2319s
5. Mark Winterbottom FPR Ford 1m20.6900s +0.2745s
6. Lee Holdsworth Erebus Mercedes 1m20.7119s +0.2964s
7. Michael Caruso Nissan 1m20.7337s +0.3182s
8. James Courtney HRT Holden 1m20.7735s +0.3580s
9. Scott Pye Dick Johnson Ford 1m20.8208s +0.4053s
10. Chaz Mostert FPR Ford 1m20.8530s +0.4375s
11. Todd Kelly Nissan 1m20.8712s +0.4557s
12. Tim Slade Walkinshaw/HRT Holden 1m20.9075s +0.4920s
13. Nick Percat Rosenberg/HRT Holden 1m20.9294s +0.5139s
14. James Moffat Nissan 1m20.9350s +0.5195s
15. Shane van Gisbergen Tekno Holden 1m20.9576s +0.5421s
16. Fabian Coulthard Brad Jones Holden 1m20.9642s +0.5487s
17. Rick Kelly Nissan 1m21.0138s +0.5983s
18. Garth Tander HRT Holden 1m21.0163s +0.6008s
19. David Reynolds Rod Nash/FPR Ford 1m21.1581s +0.7426s
20. Will Davison Erebus Mercedes 1m21.1956s +0.7801s
21. David Wall Dick Johnson Ford 1m21.2844s +0.8689s
22. Jack Perkins Schwerkolt/FPR Ford 1m21.3997s +0.9842s
23. Dale Wood Britek/BJR Holden 1m21.6160s +1.2005s
24. Russell Ingall Dumbrell Holden 1m21.7130s +1.2975s
25. Robert Dahlgren GRM Volvo 1’21.7925 +1.3770s
