Winterbottom denies Whincup pole
Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom beat championship leader Jamie Whincup to pole position for the first of this weekend's races at Darwin's Hidden Valley Raceway
The top 10 shoot-out qualifying system is back in use this weekend, and after going quickest in the opening part of qualifying, Winterbottom was the last man out in the pole session - going on to edge out Triple 8 Holden driver Whincup by just 0.01 seconds.
Stone Brothers' Shane van Gisbergen registered his best qualifying result of 2011 so far in third, sharing row two with Dick Johnson Ford driver Steven Johnson.
Tim Slade put the James Rosenberg/Stone Brothers Ford on the inside of row two ahead of Lee Holdsworth's Garry Rogers Holden, Whincup's team-mate Craig Lowndes, leading Kelly Racing driver Greg Murphy, and Steve Owen (Paul Morris Holden).
Paul Dumbrell ended up at the bottom of the top 10 pack in his Rod Nash/FPR Ford after going off the road at Turn 1 during his shot at pole.
While Winterbottom celebrated pole, his FPR team-mate Will Davison failed to get beyond part one of qualifying and will start way back in 20th.
The Holden Racing Team had a disappointing start to the weekend too, with James Courtney 11th after missing a top 10 spot by just over 0.02s, and his team-mate Garth Tander only 19th.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Mark Winterbottom FPR Ford 1m09.1697s 2. Jamie Whincup Triple 8 Holden 1m09.1749s + 0.0052s 3. Shane van Gisbergen Stone Brothers Ford 1m09.3509s + 0.1812s 4. Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Ford 1m09.3581s + 0.1884s 5. Tim Slade Rosenberg/SBR Ford 1m09.4035s + 0.2338s 6. Lee Holdsworth Garry Rogers Holden 1m09.4425s + 0.2728s 7. Craig Lowndes Triple 8 Holden 1m09.6001s + 0.4304s 8. Greg Murphy Kelly Holden 1m09.6093s + 0.4396s 9. Steve Owen Paul Morris Holden 1m10.1316s + 0.9619s 10. Paul Dumbrell Rod Nash/FPR Ford 11. James Courtney HRT Holden 1m09.6744s (qual one) 12. Rick Kelly Kelly Holden 1m09.7195s (qual one) 13. David Reynolds Kelly Holden 1m09.7198s (qual one) 14. Tony D'Alberto D'Alberto Ford 1m09.7815s (qual one) 15. Jason Bright Brad Jones Holden 1m09.8073s (qual one) 16. Michael Caruso Garry Rogers Holden 1m09.8080s (qual one) 17. Jason Bargwanna Brad Jones Holden 1m09.8170s (qual one) 18. Russell Ingall Paul Morris Holden 1m09.8397s (qual one) 19. Garth Tander HRT Holden 1m09.8419s (qual one) 20. Will Davison FPR Ford 1m09.8674s (qual one) 21. Fabian Coulthard Walkinshaw Holden 1m09.8798s (qual one) 22. James Moffat Dick Johnson Ford 1m09.9412s (qual one) 23. Dean Fiore Triple F Ford 1m09.9566s (qual one) 24. Alex Davison Stone Brothers Ford 1m09.9702s (qual one) 25. Todd Kelly Kelly Holden 1m09.9859s (qual one) 26. Jonathon Webb Tekno Ford 1m10.0551s (qual one) 27. Karl Reindler Britek/BJR Holden 1m10.0872s (qual one) 28. Warren Luff Dumbrell Holden 1m10.1573s (qual one)
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