DARWIN, Northern Territory, Australia — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — V8SC photo —
David Reynolds has proven that the speed of the Ford FG X Falcon will continue no matter where the V8 Supercars Championship (V8SC) goes in 2015.
‘Daffo’, as Reynolds is affectionately known, drove to a fast lap of 1:06.2526 seconds at the wheel of his No. 55 Bottle-O Racing Team machine to claim the pole position for Sunday’s 200 km finale to the SKYCITY Triple Crown Darwin at Hidden Valley Raceway.
The lap also re-broke the track record of 1:06.2920 that was set by Rick Kelly in qualifying for the two Saturday races, by 0.0394 seconds on the final count.
The ARMOR ALL Pole Award was the fifth of Reynolds’ career and his first of the 2015 season, though the veteran has started inside the top ten in 11 of 15 races this year.
“This is awesome for the team,” Reynolds said. “It’s really rapt — we tuned it up, and it’s good to turn it around and come out on the top. I’m glad to finally have a pole this year and hopefully we can convert it into a win now.”
Alongside Reynolds will be the Brad Jones Racing No. 14 of Fabian Coulthard, who clocked in second-fastest overall in the 20-minute session. Coulthard’s lap of 1:06.3773 was 0.1247 seconds off of the pole, but still a solid effort as Coulthard looks for his second victory of the 2015 championship.
Tekno Autosports and flying Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen were third in qualifying, with SvG’s best time of 1:06.4253 coming on his final flying lap in the session. Van Gisbergen, like Reynolds, is searching for his first victory of the year.
Chaz Mostert (1:06.4931) edged out a stunning Dale Wood (1:06.4937) by six ten-thousandths of a second for the fourth spot, with Wood’s fifth-place run marking both his best qualifying effort of the season and his first time gridding inside the top ten all year.
Behind Wood, championship leader Mark Winterbottom timed in sixth (1:06.5209), followed by James Courtney, Nick Percat, Jason Bright and Andre Heimgartner rounding out the top ten on the speed charts.
Michael Caruso was the highest-qualifying Nissan, timing in 11th.
Six-time and defending champion Jamie Whincup qualified a distant 12th, with Race 14 winner Craig Lowndes (15th), the Volvo of Scott McLaughlin (21st) and Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander (23rd) as other notables who timed in outside the top 10 in qualifying.
Sunday afternoon’s 200 km race begins at 2:15 p.m. local time.
RESULTS: V8 Supercars Championship; ARMOR ALL Pole Qualifying; Hidden Valley Raceway; June 21, 2015
- David Reynolds
- Fabian Coulthard
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Chaz Mostert
- Dale Wood
- Mark Winterbottom
- James Courtney
- Nick Percat
- Jason Bright
- Andre Heimgartner
- Michael Caruso
- Jamie Whincup
- Scott Pye
- Tim Slade
- Craig Lowndes
- James Moffat
- Rick Kelly
- Lee Holdsworth
- Todd Kelly
- Will Davison
- Scott McLaughlin
- Tim Blanchard
- Garth Tander
- Ash Walsh
- David Wall
