V8 Supercars: Van Gisbergen claims Bathurst pole

Shane van Gisbergen denied Mark Winterbottom pole position in a gripping qualifying shootout for V8 Supercars' showpiece Bathurst 1000.

The Kiwi threw his Tekno Holden around the Mount Panorama circuit and his fully committed, error-free lap resulted in a time of 2m06.3267s, beating his Ford Performance Racing rival by 0.3122 seconds.

Defending race winner Winterbottom (left) battled against understeer through his lap, but was incredibly quick through the first and final sectors, and only a moment at the top of the hill in the second sector denied him pole.

A smooth lap by Scott McLaughlin was good enough for third and the Volvo will start alongside Jason Bright's Brad Jones Holden on the second row.

Fabian Coulthard could not replicate his Friday pacesetting performance when it mattered and was 0.52 seconds down on van Gisbergen after the second sector, before losing further time after clipping the grass at Turn 22. He was seven tenths quicker than Craig Lowndes, who starts his 20th Bathurst 1000 from sixth after what was a conservative run by the Triple Eight driver following a post-practice rebuild.

James Moffat did well to hold his speed at the end of the Conrod Straight into The Chase without locking up the rears of his Nissan and finished seventh, ahead of reigning Dunlop Series champion Dale Wood in the Birtek Commodore. Jack Perkins marked his first Bathurst shootout appearance by taking ninth in the Schwekolt Falcon.

The rest of the starting order was set in Friday's qualifying session, although another race favorite joins the back of the grid as Chaz Mostert was found guilty of passing under red flags during the session and was later excluded from it.

The earlier withdrawal of Garth Tander and Warren Luff's Holden Racing Commodore also means that just 25 cars will compete in this year's Bathurst 1000, beating the previously record-lowest of 27 entries set in 1997.