David Reynolds and Luke Youlden have secured pole position for tomorrow’s Sandown 500, with Anton De Pasquale and Will Brown behind in ninth.
A progressive grid determined the spot, David setting the team’s fastest time in qualifying with fourth. Anton was just 0.1-seconds behind his teammate and secured seventh for the first Race for the Grid.
Starting on the fourth row, Will pounced and quickly made up seven spots by the end of the opening lap, with Luke slotting in behind him.
The race was far from straight forward, with a heavy shower and burst of hail forcing half the field to dive for pit lane at the halfway mark. Will pitted while Luke kept his Holden out, the pair finishing 12thand second respectively.
The second 20-lapper set the final grid and David bolted from the front row to lead the race from start to finish.
Anton also impressed and complimented the team’s efforts, driving his #99 Holden all the way to ninth for the start of tomorrow’s race.
LUKE YOULDEN: Started 4th, Finished 2nd
“This is my third pole now, so it’s not a bad record I don’t think. It was probably aided in the fact Will got past us at the start and he got pit priority, but I had a feeling that staying out was the right move. I didn’t know it was hailing, obviously those in the pit lane but could see but it just felt like rain to me.
“I just didn’t quite have the exit drive out of turn four to challenge Russell although I felt like I was stronger than him most the lap. Second was still good though and obviously made even better by progressing to pole. We’ll do a bit of homework on the car overnight and I’ll make sure I get a good start from there tomorrow.”
DAVID REYNOLDS: Started 2nd, Finished 1st
“I’ve had an amazing day, qualified well in fourth which was a very good position after where we were yesterday and made our way up to get pole. Luke did a great job in treacherous conditions which gave me a front row start; it was very awkward at the start because the track was still very wet but we opted for slicks. I managed to keep my cool off the start line and lead into turn one and get a really good lead before the safety car came out. I got a good restart and was holding station but Whincup was coming in fast. I only had a few laps to go when he caught me but I managed to hold on and in the end t was a very good result by the whole team.”
WILL BROWN: Started 7th, Finished 12th
“We had a good race, got a good start and ended up in fourth. We had pretty good pace over the guys in front of us, Dumbrell got a pretty good gap but I was feeling pretty confident before the hail started. We decided to pit which ended up not being the right decision but at the time it looked like the decision to make. We lost a bit of ground there but otherwise the car was good and we’ll push on tomorrow.
“If I can get a good start again and pick off a couple of them before Anton gets in, do the best job for him and we’ll see where we end up.”
ANTON DE PASQUALE: Started 12th, Finished 9th
“Qualifying was good, the car seemed pretty fast but obviously it was quite tight in front of us. I probably could have been a few more up but was seventh was a good starting point for the grid races.
“Will did a great job and made a few spots but unfortunately what looked like the better option to pit turned out to be the wrong one so we lost a few spots there. It was still alright though and I was able to get a good start from there and make a few spots. We now start ninth for the big one; our car speed has been good all weekend so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”