Tander lands Symmons Plains pole

Tander was the slowest of the cars to make it through to the top ten shootout, but going out first in the shootout was in his favour thanks to greater residual heat in the tyres as he set the fastest time to take pole.

Alongside him on the front row will be Sprint Gas Racing's Greg Murphy, following on from fastest in Friday's practice with Steven Johnson third fastest, the only driver in the top four before the shootout to make it in the top six after it.

Russell Ingall qualified fourth despite losing one of his times in the previous leg of qualifying for allegedly blocking Greg Murphy, his earlier starting order in the shootout probably benefitting him in the end.

However, the shootout was a disaster for Team Vodafone. Craig Lowndes didn't even take part despite setting the seventh fastest time in the second leg of qualifying after he got stuck in the gravel at the hairpin, the red flag that was subsequently brought out meaning he could take no further part in qualifying.

His team-mate and championship leader Jamie Whincup, who was fastest going into the shootout, fell to eighth in a reversal of Tander's fortunes, with only Steven Richards who went with new rear tyres on a cold track and bounced off the fence and Lowndes who didn't even run behind him in the top ten.

There were several fancied runners who just missed out on making the top ten, with Todd Kelly, Mark Winterbottom, Lee Holdsworth, Will Davison and Fabian Coulthard filling places 11 to 15 on the grid, Coulthard having received a similar penalty to Lowndes in the second leg of qualifying.

Despite missing out on the top ten, there were other drivers who were expected to that didn't even make it into the second leg of qualifying, including Murphy's team-mate Jason Richards in 22nd, Paul Dumbrell in 24th and Cameron McConville who will start from 30th, last on the grid.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Time
 1.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   0:51.7043
 2.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE   0:51.7574
 3.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        0:51.8509
 4.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   0:51.8956
 5.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        0:51.9352
 6.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   0:52.0238
 7.  Shane van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        0:52.0414
 8.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon FG        0:52.0890
 9.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        0:52.2080
10.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon FG        no time
11.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   0:51.6648
12.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        0:51.6909
13.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   0:51.6992
14.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE   0:51.7076
15.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford Falcon FG        0:51.7363
16.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   0:51.7609
17.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        0:51.8326
18.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF        0:51.8722
19.  Marcus Marshall       Ford Falcon BF        0:51.9777
20.  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE   0:51.9952
21.  Tim Slade             Holden Commodore VE   0:52.1462
22.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   0:52.1608
23.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE   0:52.1620
24.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE   0:52.2415
25.  Dale Wood             Holden Commodore VE   0:52.2837
26.  David Reynolds        Holden Commodore VE   0:52.3269
27.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   0:52.3567
28.  Michael Patrizi       Ford Falcon BF        0:52.4432
29.  Dean Fiore            Holden Commodore VE   0:52.4716
30.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE   0:52.5021