Tander on Symmons Plains pole

The Toll HSV driver put down a time of 51.5709 early in the final leg of qualifying, and despite new tyres was only able to go 52 thousandths faster at the very end of the session.

However, this was more than 0.15 seconds better than anyone else could manage, with Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom and Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup his closest challengers, less than two tenths off Tander's pace.

Behind them came four drivers separated by less than three hundredths of a second, Lee Holdsworth fourth ahead of championship contender Craig Lowndes, Steven Richards and reigning series champion Rick Kelly, also fighting for this year's title.

Mark Skaife, Steven Johnson and Max Wilson complete the top ten.

Both Jack Daniel's Racing Commodores qualified in the top twenty, Shane Price in 13th and Marcus Marshall in 18th, replacing Jack Perkins for the final two rounds of the season.

Holden Racing Team's Todd Kelly will line up just ahead of Marshall after failing to make it past leg two of qualifying.

After top ten qualifying for both drivers at the last four rounds, Stone Brothers Racing had a disastrous qualifying. Russell Ingall will start 23rd, while James Courtney will start 26th.

The only good news for Courtney is that before his final lap, he was set to start 29th, his poor qualifying a surprise after being in the top ten after Friday's practice session.

In a remarkable occurrence, Holdens fill the grid from position 12 to 22, while Fords fill the grid from positions 23 to 31.

Pos  Driver                Car
 1.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE
 2.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon BF
 3.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon BF
 4.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE
 5.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon BF
 6.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon BF
 7.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE
 8.  Mark Skaife           Holden Commodore VE
 9.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon BF
10.  Max Wilson            Ford Falcon BF
11.  Will Davison          Ford Falcon BF
12.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE
13.  Shane Price           Holden Commodore VE
14.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE
15.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE
16.  Steve Owen            Holden Commodore VZ
17.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE
18.  Marcus Marshall       Holden Commodore VE
19.  Owen Kelly            Holden Commodore VZ
20.  Paul Morris           Holden Commodore VE
21.  Dean Canto            Holden Commodore VE
22.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE
23.  Russell Ingall        Ford Falcon BF
24.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF
25.  John Bowe             Ford Falcon BF
26.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon BF
27.  Jason Bargwanna       Ford Falcon BF
28.  Simon Wills           Ford Falcon BF
29.  Andrew Jones          Ford Falcon BF
30.  Alan Gurr             Ford Falcon BF
31.  Shane van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon BF