Shane van Gisbergen sweeps Sunday Sandown qualifying, heads Triple Eight lock-out
Supercars Championship points leader and defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen will start both of today’s Sandown SuperSprint races from pole position after going non top in both of the Sunday morning sessions, mastering the rain to head an all-Triple Eight front row across both races.
The rain master showed his skills to get a clear gap to team-mate Whincup behind him in both ten minute outings, putting him in a good position to complete a sweep of race wins after winning yesterday’s 36 lap outing despite starting from 17th.
In stark contrast to Saturday’s sunny and dry conditions, the cars rolled out on to the circuit for qualifying with the track covered in water thanks to consistent rain throughout the morning.
No one was able to complete a lap before the first red flag came out, the Matt Stone Racing car of Jake Kostecki ending up buried in the Turn 1 sand trap courtesy of a stuck throttle, making it impossible to pull the car up in slippery conditions.
With just over five minutes left, the first cars in the pack started their flying laps, Jamie Whincup becoming the quickest car on the first runs on a 1:18.5666, some four-tenths clear of Triple Eight team-mate Shane van Gisbergen.
van Gisbergen responded on the next lap, two and a half tenths up on Whincup but he nearly threw it all away on the next lap, spinning at the Turn 2/3 chicane which could have triggered a red flag which would have deleted his time. Thankfully he was able to get rolling, allowing the session to play on.
Heavier rain at the end of the session allowed the Triple Eight cars to lock out the front row with van Gisbergen getting the edge as yesterday’s front-row starters completed the second row, Chaz Mostert putting his Walkinshaw Andretti United car alongside the Tickford Racing entry of Cam Waters.
Qualifying for race five started under similar conditions to the prior session, Andre Heimgartner going quick early for Kelly Grove Racing with the top time, backing up his P5 performance in the first session.
His time was soon eclipsed by van Gisbergen and Will Davison, the Dick Johnson Racing driver not staying there for long as Heimgartner took the second spot from him. van Gisbergen reset the bar on a 1:18.0065, followed by Whincup who ended up over three-tenths behind the Kiwi but enjoyed the same gap to Heimgartner behind him.
David Reynolds was able to drop his KGR team-mate Heimgartner down a spot, putting the two Braeside built cars in fourth and fifth. Davison was able to be the meat in the sandwich between the Triple Eight cars on the front row and the KGR cars behind him, ending up five spots ahead of team-mate de Pasquale.
Race Five of the championship goes green at 1330 local time with the final race of the day starting at 1630, both running for 36 laps.
