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Jamie Whincup has warned the V8 Supercars field he’s in no mood to give up his crown, earning the first two poles of the season at the Clipsal 500.
A day after complaining of getting nothing from Sydney’s test weekend earlier in the month, Whincup smashed the field and the qualifying record on Friday in Adelaide.
The Red Bull Racing driver’s chief competition came from fellow Holdens and last year’s star qualifier Scott McLaughlin’s Volvo.
Fabian Coulthard and McLaughlin will share the front row with Whincup for race one and two on Saturday.
“We nailed the set-up today and, somehow, it all just hooked up for me,” Whincup said.
Whincup set a course record with 1:20.0905 in winning his first pole, then went one better and charted 1:20.0319 for his second.
Whincup won his fourth-straight title, and sixth overall, in 2014 after an early-season eight-race wobble without a podium.
On this form, the championship has only one destination; back to the same garage it’s occupied since 2011.
Any suggestion that returning legend Marcos Ambrose might challenge Whincup’s domination was scuttled on day one.
His new team DJR Team Penske has been eager to remind fans they aren’t title contenders in 2015 and Ambrose has confirmed as much in qualifying.
The two-time champ will start on the back row for both races after lacklustre results.
With one minute remaining in qualifying for race two, Pepsi Max Crew pair Chaz Mostert and Mark Winterbottom sat one-two in the standings, with a chance to end a 16-month pole drought for Ford.
A minute later, they were ninth and tenth, swept away by the predominantly Holden front-runners.
Nissan’s good form in practice evaporated, with only Michael Caruso managing a top-10 result for race one.
CLIPSAL 500 QUALIFYING – RACE ONE AND TWO:
RACE ONE
1. Jamie Whincup (Holden)
2. Fabian Coulthard (Holden)
3. Scott McLaughlin (Volvo)
4. Chaz Mostert (Ford)
5. James Courtney (Holden)
RACE TWO
1. Jamie Whincup (Holden)
2. Scott McLaughlin (Volvo)
3. James Courtney (Holden)
4. Fabian Coulthard (Holden)
5. Shane Van Gisbergen (Holden)
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