R4K QUAL - Dumbrell grabs second pole; Wills from rear
26/5/2001 17:59 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Eighteen year old Paul Dumbrell has claimed his second successive Konica V8 Supercar Series pole position at Phillip Island Raceway this afternoon with a commanding qualifying performance.
Dumbrell, who again has support from Craig Lowndes’ crew for the weekend, recorded a 1:33.93-minute lap to be more than half a second quicker than anyone else.
Dumbrell said the aid of Lowndes’ Phillip Island data from earlier this year was a major advantage.
"I think I've got on top of driving these things now," Dumbrell, who held pole at the last round at Winton, said.
"Craig's crew has helped me get away from my open-wheeler driving style. I'm getting used to these Bridgestone tyres which are very different from the Formula Holden tyres.”
He’ll share the front row with a man 28 years his senor, Gibson Motorsport stable-mate and Konica Series points leader David Parsons. Parsons’ quickest lap was .64 seconds slower than Dumbrell’s.
Leanne Ferrier recorded her best qualifying result of the year, putting her Valvoline-Cummins Commodore into third. She bounded onto the second row (which she’ll share with NRC Racing’s Dale Brede) after circulating just inside the top ten in practice.
"I was taking my time to get up to speed," Ferrier explained. "I speared off the track on both of my fast laps with my first set of new tyres so I am lucky to be in third place."
Last-round winner Owen Kelly will start from fifth. The former Super Touring driver struggled with a mystery vibration in his John Faulkner-bred VS Commodore in practice, and beached it in the sand early in the 25-minute qualifying session.
Michael Simpson’s Castrol Falcon (on-load from an absent Craig Harris) performed to expectations, the fastest of the Fords in sixth.
After leading the Konica Series earlier in the season, Simon Wills’ luck has gone from bad to worse. His Team Dynamik VT Commodore, freshly rebuilt after a heavy shunt at Winton, expired early in qualifying with a broken head gasket.
The dual Gold Star champion will start from rear of grid in tomorrow’s opening encounter – with a largely second-hand spare engine.
The first of three 20-minute races will go 'green' at 11:30am.
**QUALIFYING - TOP TEN**
1st PAUL DUMBRELL (Wynn's Racing) - VT Commodore [1:33.9380min]
2nd DAVID PARSONS (Gibson Motorsport) - VT Commodore [1:34.5789]
3rd LEANNE FERRIER (Valvoline-Cummins Race Team) - VT Commodore [1:35.0869]
4th DALE BREDE (NRC Racing) - VT Commodore [1:35.4099]
5th OWEN KELLY (John Faulkner Racing) - VS Commodore [1:35.4346]
6th MICHAEL SIMPSON (Castrol/Harris Racing) - AU Falcon [1:35.5206]
7th SIMON EMERZIDIS (Simon's Earthworks) - EL Falcon [1:36.3416]
8th GARRY HOLT (Onefone/Eastern Creek Karting) - EL Falcon [1:36.5285]
9th TERRY WYHOON (Terry Wyhoon Racing) - VS Commodore [1:36.7481]
10th EDDIE ABELNICA (Melbourne's Cheapest Cars) - VT Commodore [1:36.8003]
For complete practice/qualifying results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?27/05/2001.PHIL
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