Jason Richards takes maiden pole

Richards topped the times in each of the sessions to take his first ever V8 Supercar pole position, just edging out championship leader Jamie Whincup and 2007 series champion Garth Tander, with Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes a close fourth.

Todd Kelly and Mark Winterbottom make up the third row of the grid, with Lee Holdsworth, Paul Dumbrell, Will Davison and the polesitter's team-mate Cameron McConville completing the top ten.

Just outside the top ten are a trio of guys who may hve been expected to be in it, in the shape of Jason Bright, Russell Ingall and James Courtney, Courtney having lost a lot of practice time earlier in the weekend with an engine failure.

With his team-mate and brother fifth, 18th was not what Rick Kelly was looking for, nor was 22nd where Steven Richards expected to start, especially with Ford Performance Racing team-mate Mark Winterbottom starting from fifth.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Time
 1.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   1:09.4908
 2.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon FG        1:09.5423  + 0.0515
 3.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   1:09.5595  + 0.0687
 4.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon FG        1:09.6173  + 0.1265
 5.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   1:09.7586  + 0.2678
 6.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        1:09.7629  + 0.2721
 7.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   1:09.9014  + 0.4106
 8.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE   1:10.0040  + 0.5132
 9.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE   1:10.0608  + 0.5700
10.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE   1:10.3382  + 0.8474
11.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF        1:09.7938  + 0.3030
12.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   1:09.8067  + 0.3159
13.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        1:09.8214  + 0.3306
14.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford Falcon FG        1:09.8623  + 0.3715
15.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        1:09.8656  + 0.3748
16.  David Reynolds        Holden Commodore VE   1:09.8787  + 0.3879
17.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   1:09.8802  + 0.3894
18.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   1:09.9567  + 0.4659
19.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE   1:10.0214  + 0.5306
20.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE
21.  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE   1:10.2578  + 0.7670
22.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        1:10.2648  + 0.7740
23.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        1:10.2691  + 0.7783
24.  Tim Slade             Holden Commodore VE   1:10.2906  + 0.7998
25.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   1:10.3115  + 0.8207
26.  Marcus Marshall       Ford Falcon BF        1:10.3972  + 0.9064
27.  Michael Patrizi       Ford Falcon BF        1:10.4910  + 1.0002
28.  Dale Wood             Holden Commodore VE   1:10.7397  + 1.2489
29.  Dean Fiore            Holden Commodore VE   1:10.9267  + 1.4359
30.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        1:11.3752  + 1.8844