As the V8 Supercars step up at the Nikon SuperGP the blow torch was applied in the race for the Championship as one of the most grueling weekends beckoned at the concrete jungle. And then there were 10.
The two afternoon qualifying sessions left a slug out for first thing tomorrow in the Top Ten Shootout to set the last part of the grid for the lengthened race format due to the much publicised no show of the flailing A1GP cars on the Gold Coast.
Ford flier Mark Winterbottom set the pace with a sizzling performance that far bettered all others despite suffering from a yet to be fully diagnosed illness of this week. He kept Championship leader Jamie Whincup in second after he put his TeamVodafone supercar in the wall in practice.
After the strong kiwi showing at Bathurst, there were slim pickings for New Zealand drivers in qualifying today. Best was Steven Richard for Ford Performance in eighth, the only kiwi in the top 10. Greg Murphy (Sprint Gas Holden0 was 12 fastest just ahead of Jason Richards (Team BOC Holden). Fabian Coulthard (Wilson Security Ford) was 17th fastest, one shpt ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen (Stone Brothers Ford).
The leaders held off Supercheap Auto Racing’s Russell Ingall who may not have been fired up before the event but was pulling no punches after an incident with Fujitsu Racing’s Jason Bright that left him absolutely seething.
The two tangled when Bright tried a move up the inside, pushing Ingall into a spin and backwards into the wall, shattering the rear windscreen and causing heavy damage. With the two sitting nose-to-nose on the track, Ingall tried to shunt Bright out of the way in what looked like two raging bulls going head to head.
“I think we all know what he (Bright) is like at some stages,” Ingall said. “If I couldn’t push him out of the way I was thinking of getting out, showing him where reverse was and giving him a clip around the ears as well. If he’s at the pointy end of the field tomorrow we’ll sort it out then.
“Maybe it’s just what I needed. I was being pretty casual about the weekend but that’s fired me up now. What goes around comes around, that’s for sure.”
Whincup was initially put to the sword in an all-out qualifying assault but measured up against the attack from a wave of Holden's including his main rivals Garth Tander and Will Davison, as well as veteran Ingall at one of his favourite tracks.
Winterbottom then launched the last minute salvo.
“The car feels well balanced and when the balance is good you can use a lot more of the road here,” Winterbottom said. “When you are comfortable you commit to the corner more easily.”
Whincup’s second was almost a payback to his team after his practice error.
“My mistake, I stuck it in the tyres” he said. “It hurt a little bit too. It’s an important event to stay up the front but sticking it in the wall this morning didn’t help.”
The Toll Holden Racing Team lived up to their promise during the week to put as much heat on Whincup as possible when both Tander and Davison ripped to the top of the timesheets at the start of the second qualifying session.
Bright was a big mover in the first leg of qualifying in the very last foray when he went from the cusp of 20th and prospect of missing out to fourth at the end of the session. At that stage he was behind Winterbottom and Whincup.
Jason Bargwanna, out of a great show at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 when he was unlucky to miss the podium, threw up a surprise in the Sprint Gas Racing Commodore hitting the top of the sheets at one point.
The Top Ten shootout starts the day tomorrow followed by the two 150km marathons.
Qualifying result
1 Mark Winterbottom
2 Jamie Whincup
3 Russell Ingall
4 James Courtney
5 Garth Tander
6 Will Davison
7 Paul Dumbrell
8 Steven Richards
9 Jason Bright
10 Craig Lowndes
11 Lee Holdsworth
12 Greg Murphy
13 Jason Richards
14 Todd Kelly
15 Jason Bargwanna
16 Rick Kelly
17 Fabian Coulthard
18 Shane Van Gisbergen
19 Steven Johnson
20 David Reynolds
21 Cameron McConville
22 Jack Perkins
23 Tony D'Alberto
24 Alex Davison
25 Michael Caruso
26 Tim Slade
27 Michael Patrizi
28 Dean Fiore
29 Mark McNally
