Winterbottom takes race two pole
Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom has taken pole position on a soaking wet track for race two of the Falken Tasmania Challenge at Symmons Plains
Winterbottom went to the top of the times with five minutes remaining in the 20-minute session. The only Ford in the top ten, he survived a last-lap effort from Jason Bright, who just missed out on beating Winterbottom's time, Bright virtually repeating the time he'd done to set provisional pole second before Winterbottom took it away.
Race one winner Craig Lowndes continued his push towards the championship lead with the third-fastest time, ahead of Jason Richards and Russell Ingall, with brother Rick and Todd Kelly in sixth and seventh.
It was a good session for Holden Racing Team's Will Davison, fighting for pole early in the session and finishing it in eighth, with Jason Bargwanna and Lowndes's team-mate Jamie Whincup completing the top 10.
Thirteenth for Garth Tander was a little disappointing after looking like he might contend for pole with a few minutes remaining, as was 19th for Shane van Gisbergen, who normally revels in wet conditions.
Twentieth for Lee Holdsworth was similarly disappointing, having scored his maiden win in 2007 in similar conditions, although his team-mate Michael Caruso is nine places further back after getting stuck off track and bringing out the red flag five minutes into the session.
However, the driver who didn't need to be so far back on the grid was championship leader James Courtney, who moved up to 17th on his last lap as the session ended, but fell back to 21st as other cars set faster times, with his two closest title rivals both starting in the top 10.
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon FG 0m59.4007s 2. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VE 0m59.4136s +0.0129s 3. Craig Lowndes Holden Commodore VE 0m59.6919s +0.2912s 4. Jason Richards Holden Commodore VE 0m59.7404s +0.3397s 5. Russell Ingall Holden Commodore VE 0m59.7786s +0.3779s 6. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VE 0m59.7898s +0.3891s 7. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VE 0m59.8859s +0.4852s 8. Will Davison Holden Commodore VE 0m59.9252s +0.5245s 9. Jason Bargwanna Holden Commodore VE 0m59.9417s +0.5410s 10. Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore VE 0m59.9673s +0.5666s 11. Paul Dumbrell Ford Falcon FG 1m00.0165s +0.6158s 12. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VE 1m00.0335s +0.6328s 13. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VE 1m00.0362s +0.6355s 14. Fabian Coulthard Holden Commodore VE 1m00.0427s +0.6420s 15. Jonathon Webb Ford Falcon FG 1m00.1253s +0.7246s 16. Warren Luff Holden Commodore VE 1m00.1443s +0.7436s 17. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon FG 1m00.2128s +0.8121s 18. Steven Richards Ford Falcon FG 1m00.2611s +0.8604s 19. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford Falcon FG 1m00.3314s +0.9307s 20. Lee Holdsworth Holden Commodore VE 1m00.4578s +1.0571s 21. James Courtney Ford Falcon FG 1m00.4966s +1.0959s 22. Tony D'Alberto Holden Commodore VE 1m00.5161s +1.1154s 23. Andrew Thompson Holden Commodore VE 1m00.6118s +1.2111s 24. Alex Davison Ford Falcon FG 1m00.8083s +1.4076s 25. Tim Slade Ford Falcon FG 1m01.0615s +1.6608s 26. Dean Fiore Ford Falcon FG 1m01.0965s +1.6958s 27. Karl Reindler Holden Commodore VE 1m01.3937s +1.9930s 28. Tony Ricciardello Holden Commodore VE 1m01.8862s +2.4855s 29. Michael Caruso Holden Commodore VE 1m04.9095s +5.5088s
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