Jamie Whincup has urged fans not to be critical of Marcos Ambrose's first qualifying efforts at the Clipsal 500.

The returning star - who will race for points for the first time in nine years in a V8 Supercar this weekend - will find himself on the back row for both of Saturday's races in his DJR Team Penske Ford Falcon FG X after lapping up to two seconds slower than Whincup in Friday's back-to-back qualifying sessions

"I think we've got to give him a break," Whincup said after claiming ARMOR ALL Pole Position for both Saturday 125km races. "It's hard work coming back in.

"It's good to see that the championship is competitive. I've never raced outside of Australia, so I can't rate what our championship is like compared to the rest of the world. I believe it's very competitive.

"Give him three or four months, don't go too hard on the bloke. He's one of the best Australia has produced - Tasmania has produced - that's a joke!

"Come mid-season I'm sure he'll be right on the pace."

Whincup had started Friday with 15th fastest time on old tyres, but his day never improved from there.

"Definitely not the result we were looking for," he admitted in quotes issued by the team.

"The car was quite good in the morning on old tyres and I thought P15 was about where we should have been.

"Even in practice three we were in a similar position. But with new tyres and the track getting faster the balance in the car was missing. I was getting a lot of understeer and with the sessions so short we just did not achieve an optimum set up."

Earlier in the day team owner Roger Penske said he expected Ambrose to be running in the top half of the field by the end of the season.