Supercars: Van Gisbergen clocks fastest ever lap in Tasmania to claim pole position
Shane van Gisbergen’s quest to claim the best-ever start to a Repco Supercars Championship season took another step forward this afternoon, when he broke the lap record in qualifying for the opening race of the Beaurepaires Tasmania SuperSprint.
The 31-year old kiwi took a tenth of a second off Craig Lowndes 2018 lap record in today’s opening ARMOR ALL Qualifying session, to claim his fourth pole position of 2021 and 36th of his career.
The result was even more remarkable by the fact the #97 Red Bull driver’s lap time was 0.3 faster than Cam Waters Monster Energy Mustang, which claimed second spot in qualifying.
Chaz Mostert will start from third and Jamie Whincup will start from fourth.
Today’s qualifying result ties van Gisbergen with Mark Winterbottom at equal 7th on the all-time pole position winners’ list and puts him in the box seat to claim his sixth race win from six starts in 2021.
The other talking point from qualifying today was the performance of 21-year old Brad Jones Racing driver Jack Smith, who will start from a career-best 10th spot on the grid.
Qualifying Results
| POS | No. | DRIVER | TEAM | BEST LAP | GAP | LAPS |
| 1 | 97 | Van Gisbergen | Red Bull Holden Racing Team | 50.492 | +0.000s | 17 |
| 2 | 6 | C. Waters | Monster Energy Racing | 50.825 | +0.333 | 17 |
| 3 | 25 | Mostert | WAU Racing Pty Ltd | 50.832 | +0.340 | 17 |
| 4 | 88 | Whincup | Red Bull Holden Racing Team | 50.836 | +0.344 | 19 |
| 5 | 17 | Davison | Shell V-Power Racing Team | 50.836 | +0.344 | 14 |
| 6 | 20 | S. Pye | Team 18 | 50.875 | +0.383 | 16 |
| 7 | 11 | A. de Pasquale | Shell V-Power Racing Team | 50.892 | +0.400 | 14 |
| 8 | 18 | Winterbottom | Team 18 | 50.924 | +0.432 | 15 |
| 9 | 9 | W. Brown | Erebus Motorsport | 51.040 | +0.547 | 16 |
| 10 | 4 | J. Smith | SCT Motor Sports | 51.108 | +0.615 | 17 |
| 11 | 26 | Reynolds | Nissan Motorsport | 51.048 | +0.556 | 12 |
| 12 | 34 | J. Kostecki | Matt Stone Racing | 51.100 | +0.608 | 14 |
| 13 | 44 | Courtney | Boost Mobile Racing | 51.107 | +0.615 | 12 |
| 14 | 35 | Z. Goddard | Matt Stone Racing | 51.195 | +0.702 | 13 |
| 15 | 99 | B. Kostecki | Penrite Racing – Erebus | 51.238 | +0.746 | 13 |
| 16 | 5 | J. Le Brocq | Truck Assist Racing | 51.277 | +0.785 | 14 |
| 17 | 96 | M. Jones | SCT Motor Sports | 51.196 | +0.703 | 5 |
| 18 | 19 | Coulthard | Team SYDNEY – Tekno | 51.208 | +0.715 | 5 |
| 19 | 8 | Percat | Brad Jones Racing | 51.278 | +0.785 | 5 |
| 20 | 22 | G. Jacobson | Team SYDNEY – Tekno | 51.297 | +0.805 | 4 |
| 21 | 3 | Slade | CoolDrive Racing | 51.306 | +0.814 | 5 |
| 22 | 2 | B. Fullwood | WAU Racing Pty Ltd | 51.410 | +0.917 | 5 |
| 23 | 7 | Heimgartner | Nissan Motorsport | 51.466 | +0.974 | 4 |
| 24 | 14 | T. Hazelwood | Brad Jones Racing | 51.515 | +1.023 | 5 |