Hey, kids! Wanna learn a qualifying trick from Australian Supercars’ fastest New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen? Add lightness beforehand with a good, satisfying trip to the bathroom. That’s what The Giz credits for winning the Clipsal 500 Race 1 pole position by only 0.0001 second over Scott McLaughlin.
McLaughlin laid down a then-fastest lap time of 1:19.7807 as the qualifying session was halfway done, per Supercars. However, Van Gisbergen whipped out an incredibly close time of 1:19.7806 at the end of the session. Isn’t he glad the series measures times to the ten-thousandths of seconds?
When Supercars asked how he eked out the tiny margin of victory, Van Gisbergen’s response was priceless:
I went to the toilet before qualifying so maybe that was it.
Seems legit!
I know way too many autocrossers who swear by taking a whiz as part of their pre-race routine, so why wouldn’t the same idea apply to full-track qualifying laps?
Van Gisbergen also noted that the team worked hard to make the car more comfortable for qualifying, and that it was very fast on the tires they used. I’m sure those helped, too. However, if it’s down to mere ten-thousandths of a second, even the tiniest advantage matters—including voiding the extra weight from your bowels, I guess.
And oh, does it matter in Supercars. The top five in qualifying for Race 1 of the Clipsal 500 were separated by less than a tenth of a second.
[H/T Paulo!]