Bright tops Friday Bathurst qualifying

Craig Lowndes moved to the top of the times halfway through the 40-minute session, bumping his team-mate Jamie Whincup off the top spot to do so. But with five minutes remaining, Bright moved back to first with a time 2m07.0002s.

Lowndes tried to topple him in the closing minutes of the session, and only just missed out on doing so, ending the session 0.0067 seconds slower than Bright. Whincup remained third with the lap he set just seven minutes into the session.

Fourth and fifth fastest were FPR's Mark Winterbottom and Fujitsu Racing's Lee Holdsworth, separated by less than two hundredths of a second. Sixth and seventh were also separated by similar margins, championship leader James Courtney just ahead of Will Davison, with Davison's team-mate Garth Tander close behind.

Greg Murphy and Paul Dumbrell complete the top 10 field for the shoot-out, just keeping Steven Johnson, Rick Kelly, Shane van Gisbergen and Steven Richards at bay.

Todd Kelly's hopes of a good position disappeared early in the session when he hit the wall at the fast sweeping Turn 2, before clouting the wall again at Sulman Park as a result of the earlier damage, qualifying 27th.

However, the Team BOC car of Jason Richards did not even take part in qualifying, after clipping the inside wall at Forrest's Elbow earlier in the day in practice, sending it head on into the barrier. It was then collected by Whincup, and the car was too badly damaged by the contact with the barriers to run again today.

Pos  Drivers                  Make                 Time
 1.  Bright/Halliday          Holden Commodore VE  2m07.0002s
 2.  Lowndes/Skaife           Holden Commodore VE  2m07.0069s  + 0.0067s
 3.  Whincup/Owen             Holden Commodore VE  2m07.3663s  + 0.3661s
 4.  Winterbottom/Youlden     Ford Falcon FG       2m07.4526s  + 0.4524s
 5.  Holdsworth/Besnard       Holden Commodore VE  2m07.4687s  + 0.4685s
 6.  Courtney/Luff            Ford Falcon FG       2m07.7278s  + 0.7276s
 7.  W Davison/Reynolds       Holden Commodore VE  2m07.7375s  + 0.7373s
 8.  Tander/McConville        Holden Commodore VE  2m07.7899s  + 0.7897s
 9.  Murphy/Simonsen          Holden Commodore VE  2m07.8646s  + 0.8644s
10.  Dumbrell/Canto           Ford Falcon FG       2m07.8717s  + 0.8715s
11.  Johnson/Marshall         Ford Falcon FG       2m07.9635s  + 0.9633s
12.  R Kelly/O Kelly          Holden Commodore VE  2m08.0556s  + 1.0554s
13.  Van Gisbergen/McIntyre   Ford Falcon FG       2m08.0656s  + 1.0654s
14.  S Richards/Moffat        Ford Falcon FG       2m08.1161s  + 1.1159s
15.  Caruso/Ritter            Holden Commodore VE  2m08.2907s  + 1.2905s
16.  Ingall/Morris            Holden Commodore VE  2m08.3541s  + 1.3539s
17.  Webb/Russell             Ford Falcon FG       2m08.3753s  + 1.3751s
18.  A Davison/Brabham        Ford Falcon FG       2m08.4052s  + 1.4050s
19.  Bargwanna/Seton          Holden Commodore VE  2m08.4550s  + 1.4548s
20.  D'Alberto/Price          Holden Commodore VE  2m08.5508s  + 1.5506s
21.  Coulthard/Baird          Holden Commodore VE  2m08.6359s  + 1.6357s
22.  Reindler/Wall            Holden Commodore VE  2m08.8156s  + 1.8154s
23.  Fiore/Patrizi            Ford Falcon FG       2m08.8886s  + 1.8884s
24.  Thompson/Briscoe         Holden Commodore VE  2m09.0272s  + 2.0270s
25.  Slade/Perkins            Ford Falcon FG       2m09.0784s  + 2.0782s
26.  Pretty/Noske             Holden Commodore VE  2m09.1773s  + 2.1771s
27.  T Kelly/Wood             Holden Commodore VE  2m09.3223s  + 2.3221s
28.  Ricciardello/Douglas     Holden Commodore VE  2m10.4957s  + 3.4955s
29.  Emery/Zukanovic          Holden Commodore VE  2m11.5023s  + 4.5021s

Excluded:
     Assaillit/Pedersen       Ford Falcon BF

Did not take part in the session:
     J Richards/A Jones       Holden Commodore VE