Bathurst 1000: Whincup tops Shootout to secure pole by 0.06s

Running last, in perfect, sunny conditions, Whincup put in a committed lap to bank a 2m05.426s – enough to beat Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin, who had ran immediately before him to pole.

“It wasn’t the tidiest lap, but it was all car today,” he said. “She was hooked up on brand new green tyres.

“There is this rumour getting around that you can’t win from pole, but its the best place to start. We’ll have a good sleep tonight and see how we go tomorrow.”

McLaughlin and co-driver David Wall will start from the outside of the front row thanks to the Kiwi’s 2m05.491. Chaz Mostert was next, making up a spot on his qualifying effort to grab third on the grid for he and Prodrive Racing co-driver Steve Owen.

Fabian Coulthard made a spot as well, the DJR Team Penske driver a little ragged, but still grabbed fourth with a 2m05.672s.

Tim Slade, meanwhile, lost a couple of spots, a lock-up at the last corner meaning his 2m05.856s dropped him from third after qualifying to fifth on the grid.

Michael Caruso was the biggest winner of the session, jumping four spots in the Nissan despite running first. His 2m05.916s saw of the first four runners that followed, and was good enough to bump him up from P10 in qualifying to sixth on the grid.

Shane van Gisbergen dropped a spot compared to qualifying thanks to Caruso’s efforts and will start from seventh tomorrow, while Garth Tander (Holden Racing Team) and Scott Pye (DJR Team Penske) both a spot and will start from eighth and ninth respectively.

That’s because Mark Winterbottom (Prodrive) went backwards more than anyone, running fourth on the road but ending up last of the 10. He had been just a tenth down on Caruso’s time to the second sector, despite nudging the wall, but ran wide at The Chase to wind up well wide of the pace with a 2m08.261s. As a result he and Dean Canto will start the Bathurst 1000 from 10th.