Supercars: Van Gisbergen claims pole for opening race in Perth
Defending Supercars Champion Shane van Gisbergen will be the one to catch when racing begins at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint this afternoon, after the kiwi claimed ARMOR ALL Pole Position from qualifying.
The #97 Red Bull Camaro ace claimed his 47th career pole and second of 2023 after getting a clear run on the famous Perth circuit in the third and final stage of qualifying.
Van Gisbergen’s lap time 0.0257 edged out current Championship leader Brodie Kostecki, with the WA local boy second in the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro.
David Reynolds will start from third in this afternoon’s race, the 2017 Bathurst 1000 Champion was the quickest of the Ford drivers in his Penrite Mustang.
Reynolds rookie teammate, kiwi youngster Matt Payne, qualified in 5th position for today’s race, continuing on from his impressive qualifying form in Melbourne.
Just 0.57 of a second separated the entire 25-car field.
Qualifying Results
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | 97 | Van Gisbergen | Red Bull Holden Racing Team | 54.363 | +0.000 |
| 2 | 99 | B. Kostecki | Penrite Racing – Erebus | 54.388 | +0.026 |
| 3 | 26 | Reynolds | Penrite Racing | 54.645 | +0.283 |
| 4 | 34 | J. Le Brocq | Matt Stone Racing | 54.650 | +0.288 |
| 5 | 19 | M. Payne | Penrite Racing | 54.684 | +0.321 |
| 6 | 5 | Courtney | Tickford Racing 1 | 54.739 | +0.376 |
| 7 | 17 | Davison | Shell V-Power Racing Team | 54.865 | +0.502 |
| 8 | 55 | T. Randle | Tickford Racing 2 | 54.882 | +0.520 |
| 9 | 23 | Slade | PremiAir Subway Racing | 54.898 | +0.536 |
| 10 | 14 | B. Fullwood | Brad Jones Racing | 54.934 | +0.572 |
| 11 | 88 | B. Feeney | Red Bull Holden Racing Team | 54.564 | +0.202 |
| 12 | 3 | T. Hazelwood | CoolDrive Racing | 54.566 | +0.204 |
| 13 | 600 | Winterbottom | Team 18 | 54.581 | +0.219 |
| 14 | 2 | Percat | Walkinshaw Andretti United | 54.592 | +0.229 |
| 15 | 25 | Mostert | Walkinshaw Andretti United | 54.654 | +0.291 |
| 16 | 56 | D. Fraser | Tickford Racing 2 | 54.718 | +0.355 |
| 17 | 96 | M. Jones | Brad Jones Racing (2) | 54.774 | +0.412 |
| 18 | 11 | A. de Pasquale | Shell V-Power Racing Team | 54.786 | +0.423 |
| 19 | 6 | C. Waters | Tickford Racing 1 | 54.936 | +0.574 |
| 20 | 20 | S. Pye | Team 18 | 55.011 | +0.648 |
| 21 | 8 | Heimgartner | Brad Jones Racing | 54.746 | +0.383 |
| 22 | 9 | W. Brown | Penrite Racing – Erebus | 54.751 | +0.389 |
| 23 | 35 | C. Hill | Matt Stone Racing | 54.757 | +0.394 |
| 24 | 31 | J. Golding | PremiAir Subway Racing | 54.790 | +0.428 |
| 25 | 4 | J. Smith | Brad Jones Racing (2) | 54.933 | +0.570 |