Van Gisbergen keeps Adelaide 500 pole

Red Bull Holden Racing Team driver Shane van Gisbergen has avoided penalty for exceeding track limits and will start the opening leg of the Adelaide 500 on pole.

Van Gisbergen set the fastest time of the ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout on Saturday, lapping nearly half-a-second faster than Shell V-Power Racing’s Scott McLaughlin.

That immediately became the subject of an investigation over the 2016 champion exceeding the track limits on the outside of the exit of Turn 7, designated by a yellow line on the track surface.

Following an investigation that lasted nearly two hours, a decision was made not to penalise van Gisbergen.

“Following the Session the Deputy Race Director investigated suspected breaches of Sch B2 Article 3.3 of the Code of Driving Conduct (deliberately exceeding track limits and gaining an advantage on rejoining) by all Cars competing in the Session," the stewards' report read.

"In the course of the investigation, the DRD reviewed the broadcast footage of all 10 Cars in the Session, together with in-car footage and still images, and determined that none of these matters warranted referral to the Stewards."

Van Gisbergen retains pole position for the season opener, with McLaughlin to start alongside in second.

“There's no performance advantage,” Triple Eight boss Roland Dane said.

“Just because some bloke, when he painted the line, decided to straighten out a tiny kink in the concrete line when it should be consistent all the way down…

“Anyway, anybody who has any background in motorsport knows that what you're really looking for is infringements on the inside of the corner, unless there's an offset corner going the other way.

“If there is no advantage gained then why would you get excited? It's fairly straightforward.”

Dane wants work on the street circuit overnight to avoid more uncertainty.

“I hope for tomorrow it's sorted out properly so there's no confusion,” he added.

“There's confusion in other places in the circuit as well, as they know. Just do it properly and get on with life, and the fastest bloke wins.

“It’ll be history in an hour when the race starts, then who cares what happened in quali, pole position, Shootout.”

The 78-lap race starts at 3:20pm local time.