Shane van Gisbergen claims first pole of new V8 Supercars era

Van Gisbergen reappeared with Tekno for the 2013 season just months after announcing he was quitting the sport when he parted with previous team Stone Brothers, which has since threatened him with legal action.

Shane van Gisbergen and motor racing's shortest retirement

The pre-qualifying session ended with van Gisbergen and Triple 8's Craig Lowndes tied for the fastest time.

That gave them the final slots for the top 10 shootout, in which van Gisbergen managed a 1m21.3595s to pip Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom by 0.0480 seconds, while Lowndes had to settle for third.

Reigning champion Jamie Whincup was slightly slowed by oversteer as he took fifth behind Fabian Coulthard.

Tekno's strong start was completed by Jonathon Webb putting the second car sixth, ahead of FPR man Will Davison.

After a troubled 2012, Garry Rogers Motorsport began '13 in encouraging form. Alexandre Premat qualified a breakthrough eighth, while rookie team-mate Scott McLaughlin took 10th for his debut, the duo split by James Courtney.

Another rookie, Scott Pye, only just missed out on the shootout.

The new teams got off to a quiet start. Michael Caruso was the top Nissan man in 13th, and Mercedes duo Lee Holdsworth and Tim Slade will share row 12.

The third Mercedes of Maro Engel ended up at the back of the grid after causing a red flag with a fire and a spin.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                   Time        Gap
 1.  Shane van Gisbergen  Tekno Holden               1m21.3595s
 2.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                   1m21.4075s  + 0.0480s
 3.  Craig Lowndes        Triple 8 Holden            1m21.4453s  + 0.0858s
 4.  Fabian Coulthard     Brad Jones Holden          1m21.4852s  + 0.1257s
 5.  Jamie Whincup        Triple 8 Holden            1m21.5258s  + 0.1663s
 6.  Jonathon Webb        Tekno Holden               1m21.5916s  + 0.2321s
 7.  Will Davison         FPR Ford                   1m21.6558s  + 0.2963s
 8.  Alexandre Premat     Garry Rogers Holden        1m21.7859s  + 0.4264s
 9.  James Courtney       HRT Holden                 1m22.1825s  + 0.8230s
10.  Scott McLaughlin     Garry Rogers Holden        1m22.2235s  + 0.8640s
11.  Scott Pye            Dumbrell Holden            1m21.5084s  Qual 1
12.  Russell Ingall       Walkinshaw/HRT Holden      1m21.6164s  Qual 1
13.  Michael Caruso       Nissan                     1m21.6701s  Qual 1
14.  James Moffat         Nissan                     1m21.6903s  Qual 1
15.  Dean Fiore           Dumbrell Holden            1m21.6930s  Qual 1
16.  Alex Davison         Schwerkolt/FPR Ford        1m21.7393s  Qual 1
17.  Todd Kelly           Nissan                     1m21.7477s  Qual 1
18.  Garth Tander         HRT Holden                 1m21.7832s  Qual 1
19.  Rick Kelly           Nissan                     1m21.8651s  Qual 1
20.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden          1m21.8754s  Qual 1
21.  David Reynolds       Rod Nash/FPR Ford          1m21.9048s  Qual 1
22.  Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Holden           1m21.9709s  Qual 1
23.  Lee Holdsworth       Erebus Mercedes            1m22.1206s  Qual 1
24.  Tim Slade            Rosenberg/Erebus Mercedes  1m22.2518s  Qual 1
25.  Tim Blanchard        Dick Johnson Ford          1m22.2749s  Qual 1
26.  David Wall           Britek/BJR Holden          1m22.2837s  Qual 1
27.  Jonny Reid           Dick Johnson Ford          1m22.8720s  Qual 1
28.  Maro Engel           Erebus Mercedes            1m23.2133s  Qual 1