Van Gisbergen on Bathurst pole, Tander out

Roje Adaimy
Oct 11, 2014, updated Oct 11, 2014

Holden driver Shane van Gisbergen will start the Bathurst 1000 from pole position for the first time in his career after winning a reduced top-nine shootout on Saturday.

The Kiwi’s hot lap of two minutes, 6.3267 seconds was quickest in the session, 0.3 sec faster than defending Bathurst champion Mark Winterbottom of Ford.

Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin will start the Great Race from third, alongside Jason Bright of Holden in fourth.

• Our bumper guide to the Bathurst 1000
• Whincup crashes out of Bathurst qualifying

“I knew the track was going to be good for us,” Van Gisbergen said.

“I just tried to put a clean fast, lap together and that’s what it was.”

Despite Van Gisbergen’s sizzler, Fabian Coulthard’s lap record of 2:05.6080 – set in qualifying on Friday – still stands.

Only nine cars laid down laps following the withdrawal of Garth Tander and Warren Luff’s Holden Racing Team entry.

Luff was involved in a spectacular crash after his brakes failed during practice earlier on Saturday morning, causing significant damage to the No.2 Commodore’s roll cage.

Craig Lowndes was caught up in the incident at turn two of the Mount Panorama circuit, but his team at Red Bull Racing managed to repair the Holden in time for the shootout.

He will start from sixth on the grid.

Championship leader Jamie Whincup missed out on the shootout after crashing during qualifying on Friday and will start the race from 24th on the grid.

He will be joined at the back by two of Ford Performance Racing’s fastest men – David Reynolds in 25th and Chaz Mostert in 26th.

Reynolds was forced out of Friday’s session early after a heavy shunt into a concrete barrier, while Mostert excluded for passing a car under red flags.

“We didn’t know whether he’d broken his leg.”

Tander and Luff’s Holden was withdrawn after a brake failure sent the car into the wall in practice earlier in the day.

When Lowndes saw the Holden of former co-driver Luff on its roof, he feared the worst.

“He had his leg wrapped around the steering column,” said Lowndes, who was on the other end of the spectacular crash during Saturday practice for the Bathurst 1000.

“I didn’t know whether he’d broken his leg.

“I asked him if he was ok and he said `Yeah, I’m ok, I just need to get out’.

“Once we got his head in an area where he could look around, because he was quite restricted, he untangled his leg and we got him out.”

As soon as Luff crawled out of Holden Racing Team’s wrecked No.2 Commodore, Lowndes gave him a lengthy hug.

“Obviously it was a more scary moment for him than me – I just went in backwards. Getting turned around like a washing machine is a little bit different,” Lowndes said.

HRT were forced to withdraw the car from Sunday’s Great Race because of the amount of damage to its roll cage, ending Tander and Luff’s chances of a victory.

Podium finishers at Sandown, they had been among the frontrunners and were set to battle it out for pole position in the Top 10 shootout later in the day.

“I’m fine, just obviously very disappointed for the team and obviously for Craig and those guys up the road,” Luff said.

“Big thanks to Craig for helping me get out of the car, that was great.”