Photo: V8 Supercars Media

Pole position for Whincup & Bourdais

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Jamie Whincup has taken pole position for the first race at the Gold Coast 600 by just two-thousandths of a second from Garth Tander’s HRT Commodore in the top ten shootout.

The Triple Eight driver, who until the last race at Bathurst had lead the Championship all the way this season, set a best time of 1:11.718 on his run and waited as Steve Owen and Garth Tander took their turns but were unable to better the 28-year-old’s lap time.

Tander came very close with a time of 1:11.720 around the streets of Surfers Paradise, but had to settle for second.

Will Davison qualified third in the Ford Performance Racing Falcon, with Steve Owen (Whincup’s co-driver last year at the Gold Coast) fourth for Paul Morris Motorsports, and Will’s brother Alex fifth fastest for Stone Brothers Racing.

Whincup and co-driver Sébastien Bourdais will lead the field away when the race gets underway at 13:40 local time.