Photo: V8 Supercars Media

David Reynolds claims pole position in wet Bathurst shootout

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Rod Nash Racing’s David Reynolds claimed his first pole position at Bathurst, with the rain working for him in the top ten shootout, with third on the road being the best time to hit the track as the rain began to fall straight after he completed his flying lap.

Torrential rain began to fall just over half an hour before the shootout took place, which saw the supporting Porsche Carrera Cup Australia race red flagged and aborted on the formation lap with the cars spinning off the circuit at the top of the mountain.

James Moffat was the first on track in the Nissan Altima and set the target time of 2:30.0084, over 25 seconds off of the pace from Friday practice.

Lee Holdsworth was next up and improved to go fastest in the Charlie Schwerkolt Racing Holden, before David Reynolds took to the track and put the Prodrive-run Ford Falcon FG X on top of the time sheets with a time of 2:27.8210, almost two seconds faster than Holdsworth’s time.

As Reynolds completed his lap, the rain began to fall again, which saw the Volvo of Scott McLaughlin unable to improve on Reynolds’ time and he went second fastest.

Jason Bright followed and went third quickest in the Brad Jones Racing Holden but by now the rain was falling even more than before, which saw the next three drivers, DJR Team Penske’s Scott Pye, Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup and Walkinshaw’s Tim Slade, all set the slowest times in turn.

Shane Van Gisbergen bucked the trend with a wild lap in the Tekno Autosports Holden to set the sixth fastest time at that point, with qualifying’s fastest man Fabian Coulthard last to run in the Brad Jones Racing Holden.

Coulthard was unable to set a competitive time in the wet conditions and could only manage the ninth fastest time at Mount Panorama.

Reynolds will therefore start the 2015 Bathurst 1000 from pole position, with Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin second, with Jason Bright third for Brad Jones Racing, ensuring three different manufacturers in the top three.

The race is scheduled to take place at 11:00 AEDT on Sunday 11th October.