INT: Ford dominates Bathurst qualifying

After a morning practice session where Holden Commodores went 1-2-3-4, Glenn Seton led the way in the most convincing way possible, whistling around the classic 3.8-mile Mt Panorama circuit in 2m10.25s to take provisional pole position.

Seton led Paul Radisich, who backed up his fastest Friday time with 2m10.40s to be second.

Third fastest was John Bowe (CAT Ford) ahead of the surprising Mark Larkham, who put an ordinary practice behind him to run a 2m10.43s when the clocks were running.

Mark Skaife leads the Holdens in fifth. The noted qualifying expert recorded a 2m10.65s in his Mobil-Holden Racing Team factory Commodore VT.

Others to make the top 10 were Garth Tander/Jason Bargwanna (Holden), Larry Perkins/Russell Ingall (Holden), the repaired Jason Bright/Craig Baird Ford and, in his last ever race, Dick Johnson, whose son Steven qualified the #17 Shell Helix Ford 10th.

Less than one second covered the top 10 cars.

Drama of the day surrounded the Perkins/Ingall Holden Commodore.

Ingall brushed a wall during his qualifying run and, when he reported to the pits, the car was found to have a bent steering arm.

Despite this, Perkins hauled the car from 15th to seventh, crossing the line to start his lap with only 10 seconds left in the session.

Leading Privateer car was the Cameron McLean/John Cleland Ford Falcon EL which ended up 15th on 2m11.67s.

The starting order of the top 10 will be decided Saturday in a solo shoot-out, starting at approx. 10.00 Australian Eastern Summer Time (Friday, midnight GMT).