De Pasquale beats Whincup to Race 26 pole

Anton De Pasquale has claimed his fifth Sydney Motorsport Park pole in seven attempts in 2021.

De Pasquale, who swept the Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight poles and claimed another last week, recorded his ninth pole of the season.

The Shell V-Power Racing Team driver will start Saturday afternoon’s Race 26 alongside Jamie Whincup, who won last Sunday’s Race 25.

Will Davison and Shane van Gisbergen will continue their rivalry from the second row.

De Pasquale carried his practice form into three-part ARMOR ALL Qualifying; the 26-year-old gapped the field in Q1, with his 1:29.027s some three tenths quicker than next best Will Brown.

Brown, Brodie Kostecki, Davison, Whincup and van Gisbergen filled positions two through six, and were covered by 0.315s.

Fabian Coulthard, Jake Kostecki, Luke Youlden and Jack Smith failed to progress to Q2.

Davison found 0.4s on his Q1 time with a 1:29.051s, with Brown slotting in 0.026s behind.

Todd Hazelwood, Jack Le Brocq, Bryce Fullwood, Scott Pye, James Courtney and Tim Slade also ran in the first minutes of Q2, and filled positions three through eight.

De Pasquale dropped in the first 1:28s lap of the weekend, with the Erebus Motorsport and Red Bull Ampol Racing entries again filling the top six.

Van Gisbergen’s 1:29.303s proved 0.356s slower than De Pasquale, with Whincup 0.090s ahead of his teammate.

De Pasquale, Davison, Kostecki and Brown were covered by just 0.132s.

Cameron Waters, Nick Percat, Chaz Mostert and Hazelwood all progressed, with Le Brocq missing a Q3 berth by just 0.031s.

Fullwood, Pye, Andre Heimgartner, Courtney, Slade, Winterbottom, Zane Goddard, Macauley Jones and Garry Jacobson were also eliminated.

Brown was the first driver to set a time in Q3, with the Erebus driver setting a time just 0.062s slower than his Q2 effort.

With Brown watching on from the garage, De Pasquale clocked a 1:28.637s to score his ninth pole of the season.

Whincup helped himself to second, albeit 0.342s behind De Pasquale.

“The car’s in a pretty good window, it’s obviously a fast car and I enjoy driving it,” De Pasquale said.

“It’s cool when you get to lay it on the line for a lap.

“We’re in a good position for the race, so we’ll try and convert it."

Whincup split the two Shell V-Power Fords, with Davison just 0.045s behind. Van Gisbergen was 0.075s behind Davison, with Brown a further 0.037s behind.

Brown’s time was good enough for fifth, with Mostert, Kostecki, Percat, Waters and Hazelwood rounding out the top 10.

“I’m really happy, that’s a maximum for us,” Whincup said.

“A geriatric like me to put it on the front row is a good performance.

“Our car was pretty good, we maximised what we had, but the guys next door are a leap ahead."

The 32-lap Race 26 will commence at 4:45pm AEDT.