Garth Tander leads opening qualifying for the Bathurst 1000

Tander, who shares his Holden with Nick Percat, put in a 2m07.6640s lap in the closing moments to seal the top spot.

Subsequent challenges from Mark Winterbottom (Ford Performance Racing) and championship leader Jamie Whincup (Triple Eight Holden) fell just short.

David Reynolds thrust his Kelly Racing Holden to fourth late on, with another late improvement getting Paul Morris Holden driver Steve Owen into the final spot in tomorrow's top 10 qualifying shoot-out.

Will Davison (FPR) and Paul Dumbrell (Rod Nash/FPR) were the men knocked outside the cut to 11th and 12th by Reynolds and Owen's progress.

Kelly's Greg Murphy, Whincup's team-mate and title rival Craig Lowndes, HRT's James Courtney, Garry Rogers driver Lee Holdsworth and Stone Brothers Ford racer Shane van Gisbergen also sealed their top 10 places today.

The session's major incident was a heavy crash for Jason Bargwanna at The Dipper. That left the Brad Jones Holden man in 21st.

Another practice session takes place on Saturday morning, before the top 10 order is set in the traditional one-lap pole shoot-out tomorrow afternoon.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car             Time        Gap
 1.  Garth Tander         HRT Holden           2m07.6640s
 2.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford             2m07.7187s  + 0.0547s
 3.  Jamie Whincup        Triple 8 Holden      2m07.7408s  + 0.0768s
 4.  David Reynolds       Kelly Holden         2m07.8371s  + 0.1731s
 5.  Greg Murphy          Kelly Holden         2m07.9126s  + 0.2486s
 6.  Craig Lowndes        Triple 8 Holden      2m08.0024s  + 0.3384s
 7.  James Courtney       HRT Holden           2m08.0035s  + 0.3395s
 8.  Lee Holdsworth       Garry Rogers Holden  2m08.0942s  + 0.4302s
 9.  Shane van Gisbergen  Stone Brothers Ford  2m08.0955s  + 0.4315s
10.  Steve Owen           Paul Morris Holden   2m08.1411s  + 0.4771s
11.  Will Davison         FPR Ford             2m08.1982s  + 0.5342s
12.  Paul Dumbrell        Rod Nash/FPR Ford    2m08.2443s  + 0.5803s
13.  Alex Davison         Stone Brothers Ford  2m08.2887s  + 0.6247s
14.  Michael Caruso       Garry Rogers Holden  2m08.4464s  + 0.7824s
15.  Tim Slade            Rosenberg/SBR Ford   2m08.4721s  + 0.8081s
16.  Rick Kelly           Kelly Holden         2m08.5250s  + 0.8610s
17.  James Moffat         Dick Johnson Ford    2m08.6631s  + 0.9991s
18.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden    2m08.6681s  + 1.0041s
19.  Todd Kelly           Kelly Holden         2m08.7271s  + 1.0631s
20.  Fabian Coulthard     Walkinshaw Holden    2m08.7746s  + 1.1106s
21.  Jason Bargwanna      Brad Jones Holden    2m09.1155s  + 1.4515s
22.  Warren Luff          Dumbrell Holden      2m09.1503s  + 1.4863s
23.  Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Ford       2m09.1948s  + 1.5308s
24.  Steven Johnson       Dick Johnson Ford    2m09.3076s  + 1.6436s
25.  Russell Ingall       Paul Morris Holden   2m09.3328s  + 1.6688s
26.  Jonathon Webb        Tekno Ford           2m09.4017s  + 1.7377s
27.  Karl Reindler        Britek Holden        2m09.4020s  + 1.7380s
28.  Dean Fiore           Triple F Ford        2m10.0191s  + 2.3551s
29.  Grant Denyer         Kelly Holden         2m11.7371s  + 4.0731s