Whincup Holden repairable after crash

Despite initial fears from driver Jamie Whincup, the #1 Red Bull Holden has been deemed repairable following its heavy Turn 8 hit in qualifying at the Adelaide 500.

Whincup slammed the outside wall at the high-speed sweeper in the dying stages of the session, the first time he’s come unstuck at the corner in 15 Adelaide appearances.   

The seven-time champion returned to the garage unsure if the car was fixable, suggesting it’d be a “50/50” proposition.

After the crew began stripping the damaged components from the car, team manager Mark Dutton confirmed it will be fixed on-site ahead of Saturday practice.

He was unsure how long the repair will take, saying only that it’ll be “well into the night” by the time it’s complete.

“It looked a lot worse on TV than reality. The car has done a good job,” Dutton told Supercars.com.

“Three corners are toast, but the birdcage, the rear subframe, the front point on the left-rear has taken most of the impact.

“It’s broken off, done its job effectively, but it’s torn a bit of the metal. It hasn’t broken off cleanly for a bolt-on repair, but it’s a lot better than I first imagined.

“The most important thing is that the safety cage inside the car has zero damage.

“They’re race-droppers, you get a DNS, but there’s none of that. We're really happy with how it’s taken the hit.

“We’ll have it as close to 100 percent as we can.”

While a lack of spare parts for the new Commodores is still an issue for the Holden teams in Adelaide, Dutton said the ZB-specific components emerged largely unscathed.

“We haven’t damaged that many ZB specific parts. The left-front door is pretty bad, maybe a guard or so,” he said.

“The rear quarter is a bit of paint which, along with the rear bar, should actually buff out. We’ve been very fortunate to not eat into the spares too much.

“[One thing it did break] is the dash. I’ve never seen one break before,” he added.

“The ZB wing mirror must be stronger, so that’s creased the door skin a bit more and allowed it to punch in.”

Amid Whincup's crash, Shane van Gisbergen gave the team something to smile about by topping the first ARMOR ALL Qualifying session of the season.