The drivers with more wins than any others in the history of Supercars, Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, have claimed pole position for tomorrow’s Penrite Oil Sandown 500 after taming the wet conditions in Melbourne today.
Lowndes won the opening sprint race of the day between PIRTEK Enduro Cup co-drivers in tough conditions before Whincup claimed his fourth Sandown pole position late today.
“We’ve been a little bit hit and miss in the wet this year, we’ve had some good performances and some ones that haven’t been so nice,” Whincup said.
“The car was good and poles have been few and far between this year, so we’ll certainly take this one.
“It’s always touch and go, but that’s why the engineers gets the big bucks to make the right calls and today we made the right one.”
Defending Virgin Australia Supercars Champion Scott McLaughlin was basically handed this year’s crown when his nearest rival, Shane van Gisbergen, collided with youngster Anton De Pasquale on the opening corner.
The incident ended van Gisbergen’s day, meaning McLaughlin opened up a wide enough gap on the points table to make it almost mathematically impossible for McLaughlin to be overtaken this year, provided he simply finishes tomorrow’s 500km race.
The drivers with more wins than any others in the history of Supercars, Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, have claimed pole position for tomorrow’s Penrite Oil Sandown 500 after taming the wet conditions in Melbourne today.
Lowndes won the opening sprint race of the day between PIRTEK Enduro Cup co-drivers in tough conditions before Whincup claimed his fourth Sandown pole position late today.
“We’ve been a little bit hit and miss in the wet this year, we’ve had some good performances and some ones that haven’t been so nice,” Whincup said.
“The car was good and poles have been few and far between this year, so we’ll certainly take this one.
“It’s always touch and go, but that’s why the engineers get the big bucks to make the right calls and today we made the right one.”
Defending Virgin Australia Supercars Champion Scott McLaughlin was basically handed this year’s crown when his nearest rival, Shane van Gisbergen, collided with youngster Anton De Pasquale on the opening corner.
The incident ended van Gisbergen’s day, meaning McLaughlin opened up a wide enough gap on the points table to make it almost mathematically impossible for McLaughlin to be overtaken this year, provided he simply finishes tomorrow’s 500km race.
Whincup won last year’s Sandown 500 while Lowndes was third.
The ARMOR ALL Pole Position has rarely been a good form guide for the winner of the Sandown 500. The car starting on pole position has gone on to win the race just three times in the last 32 Sandown enduros.
However, a car that started on the front row of the grid has gone on to win the last six Sandown 500s in a row.
