It is an all Red Bull front row for the opening race of the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400 while Whincup beats Waters to pole position for race two.
The unique qualifying format for the weekend sees two ten-minute qualifying sessions run back-to-back to set the grid for the round’s opening two races.
Shane Van Gisbergen continued his fine run of form from the day’s earlier practice sessions to pip teammate Jamie Whincup for Race 1 Pole by the narrow margin of 0.0890s.
Van Gisbergen’s lap time of a 1m55.2240s held off a hard-charging Whincup who experienced significant vibrations on his final flying lap, owing the cause to rubbing the 88 Commodore up against the wall at turn 10.
Will Davison was the only other driver within one-tenth of SVG. The 23Red Racing Mustang finishing the session in third position.
McLaughlin, Heimgartner, De Pasquale, Percat, Waters, Holdsworth and Mostert rounds off the top ten for race one.
Alex Davison was 20th in his first ARMOR ALL Qualifying session since 2017.
Qualifying for the weekend’s second race followed a similar suit to the session prior.
Championship leader Scott McLaughlin laid down an impressive 1m55.85s before being eclipsed by Whincup moments later by a sizable sixth tenths.
Tickford’s Cameron Waters will join Whincup on the front row for weekend’s second race while Will Davison once again starts from third on the grid.
Pole sitter for race one, Van Gisbergen, could only muster fourth at the chequered flag. Chaz Mostert was the only driver to attempt their flying lap out of sequence to the rest of the field and despite a purple first sector, Mostert would ultimately settle for P7.
Whincup, Waters, Davison, Van Gisbergen McLaughlin, Reynolds, Mostert, Holdsworth, Heimgartner and Coulthard are the top ten for race two.
Macauley Jones was absent from the afternoon’s running as the Brad Jones Racing mechanics continue to repair the No.3 Commodore who suffered substantial damage in a crash in practice two.
