Brendan Lines

February 23, 2020

Red Bull’s Shane van Gisbergen has secured his eighth Pole position in the Top-ten shootout at the Adelaide 500, beating Scott McLaughlin’s DJR Penske Mustang to complete an all Kiwi front row for Race 2 this afternoon.

Shane van Gisbergen on a charge – Image: Adelaide 500

van Gisbergen continued what has been a dream start to 2020 for Red Bull after Jamie Whincup took pole and the win for Race 1 yesterday, but will line up seventh behind his team mate van Gisbergen.

“Just gutted Jamie (Whincup) made a mistake there would have been good to be on the front row, but awesome race with Scotty (McLaughlin) starting up the front, looking forward to it, car’s really good so looking forward to today,” van Gisbergen said.

A strong first sector for van Gisbergen earned him the first lap in the 1:19s with a 1:19.810 to take pole.

McLaughlin was right on the pace, but being point zero-three seconds down in the final sector eventually cost the Kiwi pole position.

Tickford Racing had a strong showing as the Mustangs of Cam Waters and Will Davison qualified third and fourth respectively.

Davison who lit up the first two sectors, locked up the brakes of his no.23 Mustang in the final corner costing him two-tenths of second.

Qualifying for the Top-ten Shootout was not without its own dramas as the session was red-flagged after a Turn 8 incident involving BJR’s Jack Smith.

The Commodore driver’s aggressive slide caused severe damage to the left side of his car, the team is now confident that can repair the damage before the race in just under two-hours time.

Ouch-time at Turn 8 – Image Fox Sports

“It felt like a reasonably hard hit, but the car looks OK much to my surprise and the rest of team,” Smith said to Fox Sports.

“I clipped the wall on the inside, kind of before I hit it I saw it coming, I knew I turned in too early, so misjudged it, just clipped it and spat me out.”

A disappointed David Reynolds who started on the front-row finishing fourth yesterday, suffered a engine failed due to a suspect plug lead, which his mechanics could not fix in time.

Reynolds will now start 14^th in his Penrite Racing Commodore.

Race 2 of the Adelaide 500 kicks off 3:20pm CDST.