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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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