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Winterbottom takes tight Hamilton pole

Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom took pole by the narrowest of margins in a hard-fought battle for pole position for race one of the Hamilton 400 on the streets of Hamilton in New Zealand

Winterbottom took the top spot from Jim Beam Racing's Steven Johnson after Michael Caruso had spent most of the top ten shootout on top of the times. Fastest in the second leg of qualifying, Whincup was last to go out in the shootout.

It was nip and tuck at the two splits and even closer at the finish, Winterbottom holding onto pole by seven ten-thousandths of a second. Behind them on the second row will be Johnson and Caruso, with Tander just a whisker slower.

Just behind them will be Lee Holdsworth and Craig Lowndes who only ended up seventh-fastest after setting the third-best time in the previous session, James Courtney and the Kelly brothers Rick and Todd completing the top ten.

Just outside the top ten in 11th and 12th are Shane van Gisbergen and Will Davison, just ahead of Jack Perkins. Marcus Marshall continues to show good speed in his older BF Falcon in 15th, while Russell Ingall struggled a little and will start 18th.

Last year's pole man and team-mate of this year's pole man Steven Richards failed to make it through leg one and will start down in 22nd position. Tony D'Alberto was excluded from the session after losing a wheel nut during the first leg of qualifying, causing the session to be red flagged.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Time
 1.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        1:23.8053 
 2.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon FG        1:23.8060  + 0.0007
 3.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        1:24.0691  + 0.2638
 4.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   1:24.0801  + 0.2748
 5.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   1:24.0862  + 0.2809
 6.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   1:24.1885  + 0.3832
 7.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon FG        1:24.3101  + 0.5048
 8.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        1:24.4742  + 0.6689
 9.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   1:24.5275  + 0.7222
10.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   1:24.5789  + 0.7736
11.  Shane van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        1:24.2719  + 0.4666
12.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE   1:24.2794  + 0.4741
13.  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE   1:24.3279  + 0.5226
14.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE   1:24.3472  + 0.5419
15.  Marcus Marshall       Ford Falcon BF        1:24.4468  + 0.6415
16.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        1:24.5732  + 0.7679
17.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE   1:24.7332  + 0.9279
18.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   1:24.7985  + 0.9932
19.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF        1:34.2732  + 0.4679
20.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   1:35.3031  + 1.4978
21.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford Falcon FG        1:24.7554  + 0.9501
22.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        1:24.9339  + 1.1286
23.  David Reynolds        Holden Commodore VE   1:24.9360  + 1.1307
24.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE   1:24.9723  + 1.1670
25.  Tim Slade             Holden Commodore VE   1:25.0216  + 1.2163
26.  Michael Patrizi       Ford Falcon BF        1:25.1275  + 1.3222
27.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE   1:25.6558  + 1.8505
28.  Dean Fiore            Holden Commodore VE   1:25.9853  + 2.1800
29.  Dale Wood             Holden Commodore VE   1:26.1629  + 2.3576
EXC  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE       -

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