Holdsworth on race one pole

Holdsworth was seventh fastest before the shootout, but a clean lap on a slightly damp track paid off for him, taking pole by just under a tenth of a second from Mark Winterbottom, who also moved up six places in the shootout from eighth beforehand.

Quickest before the shootout, reigning series champion and championship challenger Jamie Whincup could only manage third in the shootout, just 0.0019 of a second slower than Winterbottom. However, a red flag in the middle of qualifying meant that at one point he and fellow championship contender James Courtney looked like they wouldn't make the shootout at all and be mired down the grid.

Holdsworth's team-mate Michael Caruso was fourth fastest, followed by Tim Slade in a rare shootout run in fifth place. Ninth before the shootout, championship leader James Courtney moved up three places just like at Sandown to qualify sixth.

Todd Kelly dropped from fifth to seventh after a poor lap, just ahead of Alex Davison, while Russell Ingall fell from third to ninth and Shane van Gisbergen from second to tenth after laps they'd rather forget.

Just outside the top ten in 11th is Craig Lowndes, closely followed by Ingall's team-mate Greg Murphy and Fabian Coulthard in a car that made heavy contact with the wall in Friday practice.

Both Holden Racing Team cars struggled in qualifying, Will Davison in 17th while Garth Tander will start from 22nd. Jason Bright, who was fastest in Friday practice, will start 28th after causing a red flag when he dropped oil on the circuit after taking too much kerb at one of the chicanes.

He will be one place ahead of last race winner Paul Dumbrell however, who hit the wall for the third time in two days and failed to set a representative time.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Time
 1.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE2  1m29.8733s
 2.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        1m29.9723s  + 0.0990s
 3.  Jamie Whincup         Holden Commodore VE2  1m29.9742s  + 0.1009s
 4.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE2  1m30.2246s  + 0.3513s
 5.  Tim Slade             Ford Falcon FG        1m30.4875s  + 0.6142s
 6.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        1m30.7006s  + 0.8273s
 7.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE2  1m30.8628s  + 0.9895s
 8.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        1m30.9382s  + 1.0649s
 9.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE2  1m31.7551s  + 1.8818s
10.  Shane van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        1m39.7771s  + 9.9038s
11.  Craig Lowndes         Holden Commodore VE2  1m29.7620s  - 0.1113s
12.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE2  1m29.8892s  + 0.0159s
13.  Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VE   1m29.8924s  + 0.0191s
14.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE2  1m29.9401s  + 0.0668s
15.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        1m29.9599s  + 0.0866s
16.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        1m29.9652s  + 0.0919s
17.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE2  1m30.0541s  + 0.1808s
18.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE2  1m30.2396s  + 0.3663s
19.  Karl Reindler         Holden Commodore VE   1m30.2518s  + 0.3785s
20.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE2  1m30.4270s  + 0.5537s
21.  Jonathon Webb         Ford Falcon FG        1m30.4839s  + 0.6106s
22.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE2  1m30.5001s  + 0.6268s
23.  Warren Luff           Holden Commodore VE2  1m30.5256s  + 0.6523s
24.  Andrew Thompson       Holden Commodore VE2  1m30.8640s  + 0.9907s
25.  Andrew Jones          Holden Commodore VE2  1m31.0835s  + 1.2102s
26.  Dean Fiore            Ford Falcon FG        1m31.1422s  + 1.2689s
27.  Tony Ricciardello     Holden Commodore VE2  1m32.0542s  + 2.1809s
28.  Jason Bright          Holden Commodore VE2  1m33.0175s  + 3.1442s
29.  Paul Dumbrell         Ford Falcon FG        1m42.4795s  +12.6062s