Todd Kelly on pole at Eastern Creek

Kelly edged out teammate Mark Skaife by less than four-hundredths of a second as the Holden Racing team locked out the front row. Reigning series champion Rick Kelly completed a Holden top three.

Jamie Whincup and Steven Richards were the best of the rest in their Fords, though neither was able to set a time within half a second of either of the HRT cars.

Garth Tander had his worst qualifying performance of the year but was still sixth fastest, just ahead of Jason Bright.

Still, some of the favourites failed to make the top ten run-off, including Pukekohe pole man Mark Winterbottom in 11th and Craig Lowndes in 16th.

The field is down to 30 starters after Team Kiwi Racing were unable to present a race car after Ford Performance Racing recently terminated their contract to supply a car, Team Kiwi Racing unable to source a replacement car in time for the event. The team's driver Paul Radisich has also left after claiming breach of contract.

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