Tander takes Hamilton race two pole

Whincup was on top of the times until Tander went to the top with two and a half minutes remaining, Whincup's time having been over half a second faster than anyone else for most of that time.

Whincup then looked set to pip Tander's time but a small moment or a baulk saw him remain second. Then, with the twenty minutes having been completed, Whincup went again and was on target to beat Tander's time but was baulked throughout the second half of the lap as he was forced to follow Dean Fiore.

Remarkably, he still went faster but wasn't able to beat Tander to pole. Behind them on the second row will be Michael Carsuo and Rick Kelly, with Craig Lowndes just edging out James Courtney, Courtney having struggled to set a time until the final minutes of the session, just ahead of team-mate Steven Johnson.

After all his dramas yesterday, Will Davison showed a return to form with eighth, just 0.0003 of a second faster than the second Jack Daniel's Racing car of Todd Kelly, with Mark Winterbottom completing the top ten, the Ford Performance Racing driver still doing well but just not as well as usual.

The session was interrupted after five minutes when Andrew Thompson hit the wall on the inside of the exit of turn one. Fourth at the time, he ended up 16th, still three places ahead of team-mate Fabian Coulthard.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Time
 1.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   1m23.0349s 
 2.  Jamie Whincup         Holden Commodore VE   1m23.1043s  +0.0694s
 3.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   1m23.1966s  +0.1617s
 4.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   1m23.2514s  +0.2165s
 5.  Craig Lowndes         Holden Commodore VE   1m23.3056s  +0.2707s
 6.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        1m23.3100s  +0.2751s
 7.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        1m23.3937s  +0.3588s
 8.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE   1m23.4094s  +0.3745s
 9.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   1m23.4097s  +0.3748s
10.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        1m23.4398s  +0.4049s
11.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   1m23.4871s  +0.4522s
12.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        1m23.5292s  +0.4943s
13.  Paul Dumbrell         Ford Falcon FG        1m23.5871s  +0.5522s
14.  Jason Bright          Holden Commodore VE   1m23.5887s  +0.5538s
15.  Jonathon Webb         Ford Falcon FG        1m23.6231s  +0.5882s
16.  Andrew Thompson       Holden Commodore VE   1m23.7785s  +0.7436s
17.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   1m23.8399s  +0.8050s
18.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE   1m23.8624s  +0.8275s
19.  Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VE   1m23.8995s  +0.8646s
20.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        1m23.9106s  +0.8757s
21.  Tim Slade             Ford Falcon FG        1m23.9755s  +0.9406s
22.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   1m24.0136s  +0.9787s
23.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE   1m24.1023s  +1.0674s
24.  Dean Fiore            Ford Falcon FG        1m24.1339s  +1.0990s
25.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        1m24.2578s  +1.2229s
26.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   1m24.2783s  +1.2434s
27.  Tony Ricciardello     Holden Commodore VE   1m24.7054s  +1.6705s
28.  Karl Reindler         Holden Commodore VE   1m24.7431s  +1.7082s
29.  Daniel Gaunt          Holden Commodore VE   1m25.0753s  +2.0404s