MOTORSPORT: Whincup pips McLaughlin
Bathurst qualifying goes Red Bull ace’s way, now for the main eventIt was laden with tension and threatening at any moment to have an errant Supercar caroming off concrete, but the reality was yesterday’s Top 10 Shootout at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 went fundamentally as expected.
As a result, we are now set for the 11:10am start of the 161-lap classic at Mount Panorama with a full field of 27 cars on the grid and none bent, buckled and parked up for the weekend.
Which probably means that all-hell will break loose on The Mountain today, as it often does after a period of relative calm.
Starting from pole position is the Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell (pictured) Red Bull Holden Commodore VF, with the Wilson Security GRM Volvo S60 of Scott McLaughlin/David Wall joining them on the front row.
Starting last in the shootout because he had set provisionally fastest time in Friday’s qualifying, Whincup got the best of the cooling conditions to pip McLaughlin by just 0.0652 sec.
It was a violent lap, teetering constantly on the edge of disaster. The four-time Bathurst winner even brushed the concrete as he rushed across the top of the mountain faster than any other competitor.
"I went out there knowing that I could get the top, so it was awesome to get there,” said Whincup.
“The car has been quick all week; the car did everything I needed it to today.
“There is a voodoo on getting pole at Bathurst, but it's great to be starting up the front and I hope Paul and I can shake the stigma of claiming pole around here.
“You try to not overthink the race, I will put this behind me and start fresh tomorrow."
The day after Ford shut its Australian manufacturing plants representatives of the two Ford teams in the race locked out row two of the grid.
Chaz Mostert, who crashed out of qualifying last year and prematurely ended his season, took third in the Supercheap Falcon in his first ever Bathurst shootout, while Fabian Coulthard was fourth fastest for DJR Team Penske with billionaire team owner Roger Penske watching his wild lap from the pit bunker.
“It was hairy in a few spots but the shootout is all about risk versus reward,” Coulthard said.
“You have to lift in this session but although it had been many hours since we had been in the car, I was relatively happy with it.”
Happiest of all was Michael Caruso, the Nissan Altima driver rising from 10th (and first out of the starting gate in the hottest and therefore worst conditions) to sixth on the grid.
"It's nice to move up a few spots, the car feels really good,” said Caruso.
“It's obviously a very long race so it was nice to get out there and have that track all to my own.
“I'm really happy with the lap, I wanted to make sure that I put my best foot forward and I definitely gave it my all. Going out first you are always disadvantaged but I can't say I'm not happy.”
Not so impressed to be fifth was Brad Jones Racing’s Tim Slade, who entered the session provisionally third fastest but wasted a flying first sector with a slow – relatively speaking – trip across the top of the mountain.
Mark Winterbotton was unequivocally not happy as a persistent brake drama forced him to bail out of his flying lap at The Chase for fear he would flat-spot and damage a tyre. Tenth was the result for the defending Virgin Australia Supercars champion and The Bottle-O Falcon.
Seventh through ninth places on the grid have been taken by Red Bull’s peculiarly subdued championship leader Shane van Gisbergen, Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander and Scott Pye in the second Shell V-Power Ford.
Outside the 10 sit 17 more eager combinations ready to make their bid for glory. Some including defending winners Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards in 21st place fancy themselves race winners. Others, such as the Harvey Norman Supergirls Simona de Silvestro and Renee Gracie will simply regard finishing as a victory.
In the carsales.com.au Racing Nissan Altima Todd Kelly and wunderkind Matt Campbell, qualified with a time of 2:06.0572. The #7 carsales Altima will start from 19th on the grid.
Race day is set to be fine and mild, which means weather is not expected to play a significant role. The winners in what is now a 1000km sprint will emerge from a front-running group that will form for the last two stints of the race.
Those not contending will have paid a price for faulty strategy, a bad pit stop, a lack of pace, poor reliability or a driver brain fart. For instance, all eyes will be on Whincup after defying team orders in both 2014-15 and backing his own judgement late in the races. It didn’t work out well either time…
In the end, it will take more than six hours to win this race, but only a few seconds to lose it. The pressure will be on from start to finish.
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