He left it late but Holden’s Jamie Whincup will start Sunday’s 70-lap Supercars race in New Zealand from pole position.
The championship leader was seventh on the timesheets in Sunday’s 20-minute qualifying run with title rival Scott McLaughlin seemingly destined for another pole when Whincup made a late dash for top spot.
After strapping a new set of tyres to his Red Bull Holden Racing Team Commodore, Whincup’s 1min 02.5148sec lap at Pukekohe Park Raceway was enough to pip DJR Team Penske star McLaughlin.
“Scotty was on pole, so had to pull it all out,” Whincup told Fox Sports.
“Took a risk. Could’ve ended up P20 but got pole.”
McLaughlin (1:02.5203) will start from second on the grid with just 18 points separating the pair in the title standings.
Ford’s Chaz Mostert, who had a shocking race on Saturday, recovered nicely with a 1:02.5356 lap securing him third on the grid alongside Prodrive Racing Australia teammate Mark Winterbottom.
Saturday’s race winner Shane van Gisbergen will start from seventh while another championship contender, Fabian Coulthard, will start from eighth.
Coulthard’s garage spent most of last night rebuilding his DJR Team Penske Ford after it ended up on its roof in Saturday’s race.
A combination of roof panels from a NZ V8 Touring Car and a road car were combined to complete the repairs, which were only finished at 4.30am (2.30 AEDT) on Sunday.
Sunday’s race starts at 4.10pm (2.10pm AEDT).