SVG In The Spotlight Again With Clipsal 500 Pole
HE has been the topic ofdiscussion amongst the V8 Supercar fraternity for much of the off-season, buttoday was a different kind of spotlight for New Zealand ace Shane vanGisbergen.
Having controversially changed teams fromStone Brothers Racing to Tekno Autosports across the off-season, van Gisbergen delivered his new teamimmediate results by rocketing to pole position at the Clipsal 500 Adelaidetoday, jumping Craig Lowndes and Mark Winterbottom to take the top spot for thefirst race of 2013.
The VIP Petfoods TeknoAutosport Holden was second-last on the circuit in today’s shootout and putused his usually committed style to take the top spot and the ARMOR ALL poleaward by just 0.04s.
His lap of 1m21.3595s wasactually slower than last year’s pole time: however it was enough to furtherpush the 22-year-old New Zealander into the spotlight – one that is alreadyintensely focussed on him, though for different reasons.
The Pepsi Max Crew FPR Fordof Mark Winterbottom was the biggest improver of the day, leaping from 8thposition in qualifying to second via a stunning Shootout lap – and held the topspot for much of the shootout before van Gisbergen bumped the brightly liveriedFord back to second.
Provisional polesitter CraigLowndes was the last on the track and, for a moment, looked like he wouldconvert his provisional pole to the top spot in the shootout – butfell short by a fraction of a second after a committed lap, ultimately slippingtwo places to third.
The three were split by just0.08s, continuing a day of remarkably close competition by the next-generationV8 Supercars being tested in the heat of battle for the first time today.
Today’s effort marked thefirst pole position for Tekno Autosport and the second in van Gisbergen’scareer, though the first he’s earned as a ‘solo’ driver.
“It’s amazing. Thanks to theteam, they’ve done a great job,” he said following his pole-winning lap.
“We’ve been amongst it allweekend. Thanks to the Webb family, and the Quinn family at VIP. It’s been abig offseason so it’s good to deliver this.
“I’m not paying attention tothe stuff going on outside the car – I don’t even have a working phone at themoment. I just get in there and drive it. Thanks to everyone for their supportand it’s great to be here.”
A nervous Winterbottomwatched six cars try to topple his strong lap-time and ultimately fell justshort of a 26th career pole position – but after some questioned thefactory Ford squad’s pace earlier in the day, Winterbottom’s turnaround to thefront row of the grid was a welcome relief to Ford fans.
“The car felt pretty good. Youdo the time and stand and wait and you don’t know if it’s god enough,” he said.
“When you finesse the lapand critique it there are bits here and there, but it’s not really worthlooking at it. Good luck to Shane – he’s had a pretty interesting off seasonbut has come back and bounced on – so we’ll go for it tomorrow.
“The suspense here is tough –you don’t’ know for 30-seconds where you’re going to end up. You just standhere, pray, and hope you end up on the front row.”
Fabian Coulthard matched hiscareer-best qualifying effort by placing his Lockwood Racing Holden fourth,defending champion Jamie Whincup ending fifth.
Jonathon Webb, Will Davison,Alex Premat, James Courtney and Scott McLaughlin completed the ten, no driverfinishing the shootout in the same position that they started it.
The V8 Supercars will returnto the circuit tomorrow morning at 08:45am for a morning warmup session, priorto the first race of the championship commencing at 14:35pm local time – to becontested over 78 laps of the demanding 3.22km circuit.
