SHANE van Gisbergen has rebounded to snatch pole position for Race 2 of the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight.
The Kiwi star was the form driver throughout practice yesterday before qualifying went awry, and then a time penalty cost him a Race 1 podium.
There was no stopping van Gisbergen this time around as Triple Eight and Brad Jones Racing locked out the front two rows.
As opposed to the prolonged three-part qualifying format used yesterday, a single 15-minute session was to determine the entire Race 2 grid.
Most cars rolled out for a sighter lap before immediately returning to the lane, with James Golding the best of the three cars to set an early time on a 1:30.8168s.
That of course was still a long way off the 1:29.3447s with which Andre Heimgartner took the Saturday pole, and bit by bit the time was shaved down as Cam Waters, David Reynolds, Anton De Pasquale and Brodie Kostecki all set new purple laps.
Entering the final flurry of flyers, it was Kostecki (1:30.2569s) from van Gisbergen, De Pasquale, Reynolds and Waters.
There was plenty of late movement as the likes of Reynolds and Mark Winterbottom popped up into the top two, only to slide back to find themselves on the fourth row together.
Meanwhile, Kostecki improved ever so slightly to 1:30.2152s but that wasn’t enough as Bryce Fullwood and Andre Heimgartner went to the top, only for van Gisbergen to bang in an unparalleled 1:29.9100s.
Broc Feeney then improved to split the BJR cars, while Waters was the fastest Ford in sixth.
In reference to his Race 1 penalty, van Gisbergen quipped “let’s see how they try to take this one off us”.
Pressed further on that matter, SVG answered “I agree with what Waters said” – that being the Tickford Racing star’s eruption over team radio last night after being informed of an unsafe release penalty.
The second and final race of the Sydney SuperNight will start at 3:30pm.
All teams will be required to make one compulsory pitstop for tyres during the course of the 36-lapper.
Results: Race 2, 2023 Sydney SuperNight
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Triple Eight | Chevrolet | 1:29.9100s |
| 2 | 8 | Andre Heimgartner | BJR | Chevrolet | +0.0563s |
| 3 | 88 | Broc Feeney | Triple Eight | Chevrolet | +0.2067s |
| 4 | 14 | Bryce Fullwood | BJR | Chevrolet | +0.2575s |
| 5 | 99 | Brodie Kostecki | Erebus | Chevrolet | +0.3052s |
| 6 | 6 | Cam Waters | Tickford | Ford | +0.3361s |
| 7 | 18 | Mark Winterbottom | Team 18 | Chevrolet | +0.3945s |
| 8 | 26 | David Reynolds | Grove | Ford | +0.416s |
| 9 | 11 | Anton De Pasquale | DJR | Ford | +0.5306s |
| 10 | 9 | Will Brown | Erebus | Chevrolet | +0.5336s |
| 11 | 35 | Cameron Hill | MSR | Chevrolet | +0.5429s |
| 12 | 20 | Scott Pye | Team 18 | Chevrolet | +0.6046s |
| 13 | 34 | Jack Le Brocq | MSR | Chevrolet | +0.6347s |
| 14 | 96 | Macauley Jones | BJR | Chevrolet | +0.6449s |
| 15 | 5 | James Courtney | Tickford | Ford | +0.665s |
| 16 | 25 | Chaz Mostert | WAU | Ford | +0.6737s |
| 17 | 23 | Tim Slade | PremiAir | Chevrolet | +0.6979s |
| 18 | 3 | Todd Hazelwood | BRT | Ford | +0.7354s |
| 19 | 55 | Thomas Randle | Tickford | Ford | +0.7392s |
| 20 | 31 | James Golding | PremiAir | Chevrolet | +0.8235s |
| 21 | 4 | Jack Smith | BJR | Chevrolet | +0.8762s |
| 22 | 56 | Declan Fraser | Tickford | Ford | +0.8884s |
| 23 | 17 | Will Davison | DJR | Ford | +0.9197s |
| 24 | 19 | Matthew Payne | Grove | Ford | +0.961s |
| 25 | 2 | Nick Percat | WAU | Ford | +1.0248s |
