Whincup, Waters combine to end Sunday pole trend

Jamie Whincup and Cameron Waters combined in Townsville to end the Sunday qualifying trend in 2021.

To this weekend’s WD-40 Townsville SuperSprint, at all four sprint events so far in 2021, the same driver has claimed both ARMOR ALL Pole Positions on the Sunday.

Shane van Gisbergen kicked off the trend with two poles in the wet at March's Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint.

Waters claimed both Sunday poles at the Beaurepaires Tasmania SuperSprint, before Anton De Pasquale did the same at the OTR SuperSprint in Tailem Bend.

Last month, Will Davison clinched both poles in Darwin.

The streak ended on Sunday, with Whincup claiming Race 18 pole in Townsville before Waters topped the Race 19 session.

Davison, however, continued another trend in Darwin; Sunday pole sweeps haven't generated Sunday win sweeps.

In 2021, just three times in eight starts at sprint events has the pole winner gone on to win on Sunday.

Van Gisbergen won both Sandown races, while De Pasquale converted in Race 10.

Starting from pole itself has proven tough to convert from; just seven times in 17 attempts in 2021 has the victor started from pole position.

Van Gisbergen has done it five times (Bathurst, Sandown, Tasmania and Townsville) with Andre Heimgartner and De Pasquale converting at The Bend.

Race 18 will commence at 12:45pm AEST ahead of Race 19 at 3:40pm.