Motorsport: Whincup snares pole at Hamilton V8s

Team Vodafone driver Jamie Whincup has again stamped his authority on the Hamilton V8 Supercars circuit. Photo / Getty Images

Holden's Jamie Whincup will start from pole position in Saturday's 200km race at the Hamilton V8 Supercar event.

Whincup, who qualified fifth fastest for the top 10 shootout to determine pole, blitzed the 3.4km street circuit to post a best time of one minute, 34.5918 seconds in wet conditions.

Only one other driver went under the 1:35 mark in the shootout, with Ford's Steven Johnson clocking 1:34.7234 to claim second spot on the grid.

Holden's Rick Kelly (1:35.1252) will start in third position just ahead of hometown favourite Shane van Gisbergen (1:35.2582) in fourth.

Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander make up a superstar third row while David Reynolds will start alongside New Zealand veteran Greg Murphy in seventh and eighth spots while Tony D'Alberto and Dean Fiore round out the top 10.

It wasn't such a good morning however for some of Whincup's championship rivals as rain ruined the 20-minute qualifying session to determine the competitors in the top 10 shootout.

Defending champion James Courtney was the first to fall foul of the wet weather, crashing out midway through the session after breaking his steering following contact with the wall at turn three.

Courtney's crash means he'll start back in 16th place while Ford's Mark Winterbottom also missed out on the top 10 and will start in 11th.

Winterbottom's Ford Performance Racing teammate Paul Dumbrell's weekend is over after he collided heavily with the same wall that claimed Courtney in the early qualifying session.

The damage to Dumbrell's Falcon was such that his team announced before the shootout he won't be competing in either Saturday's race or Sunday's 200km event.

This afternoon's race begins at 3.05pm, local time, but the morning's wet weather appears to be easing and drivers could find themselves on a dry track by race start.

Qualifying

Ford driver Steven Johnson set the fastest lap time during a wet qualifying session in Hamilton this morning.

Johnson's time of 1min 35.8538sec on the Hamilton 400's 3.4km street circuit put him ahead of the Holden of closest rival Rick Kelly.

Third was Ford driver Shane Van Gisbergen, one of two New Zealander who made it through to the shootout along with Greg Murphy, who was seventh in his Holden.

The third New Zealander in the 28-strong field, Holden driver Fabian Coulthard, will start the 59-lap race at 15th on the grid.

The forecast rain arrived in Hamilton this morning and the slippery conditions led to the red flag twice being brought out.

The first stoppage came when reigning V8 Supercars champion James Courtney damaged the right side of his Holden.

Paul Dumbrell then slammed his Ford head-on into a concrete barrier. Dumbrell, who lost his steering on a corner, looked winded by the smash and exited his badly damaged car gingerly.

The wet conditions meant Garth Tander's qualifying record of 1min 23.0439sec set last year wasn't threatened.

- NZPA / AAP