The man who has won more Supercars races than any other driver will go from 11^th on the grid in Sunday’s Bathurst 1000 after clocking a best qualifying lap of 2:05.6187.

It is only the second time in the last seven years that Whincup has missed the top 10 shootout, the other being in 2014 following a qualifying crash.

“Qualifying was a disappointing result for us. I can’t explain it because the car feels pretty good, but we’re just slow and don’t know what the issue is just yet,” he said. 

“We should have been in the top 10 but we missed it.”

While the speed of his Holden Commodore not what he what he would have liked, the four-times Bathurst 1000 winner has now changed focus.

The priority now is to work on setting up his #88 entry up for Sunday’s 161-lap epic.

“It’s not all doom and gloom because it’s a long race on Sunday, so anything can happen,” he said.

“Now all our focus will be on getting the car up to scratch.”

His co-driver Paul Dumbrell was also trying to remain positive after the disappointment of not qualifying better.

“If I’m looking at the silver lining, we’ll have some extra time now to put our heads down and make sure that car number 88 is competitive come Sunday,” he said.