Craig Lowndes has taken his second Armor All Pole Award for the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship at the Tasmania Challenge.
The TeamVodafone driver all-but equalled his best effort from Practice 5 this morning by clocking a 51.04s lap with half of the 20 minute qualifying session still remaining.
The time withstood a flurry of fast laps late in the session that shook up the remaining spots in the top 10.
Ford Performance Racing duo Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom will start second and third respectively after both setting their best laps after the chequered flag.
Jamie Whincup’s mixed weekend continued, with the three-time and reigning champion visiting the Turn 4 escape area on his first new set of soft tyres, before joining the FPR duo in setting his best time on his final attempt to secure fifth behind Shane van Gisbergen.
David Reynolds ensured four Fords will start from the top six positions, while Garth Tander, Lee Holdsworth, Tim Slade and Jonathon Webb rounded out the top 10.
Alexandre Premat took a career best 11th in his Fujitsu Racing Holden – 11 places ahead of team-mate Michael Caruso.
Just 0.85s separated 27th placed David Russell from pole-sitter Lowndes at the end of the session.
Race 4 of the championship will get underway at 1530 local time.
See below for the full qualifying result
| 1 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.0408 | |
| 2 | Trading Post FPR Ford | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 0:51.0561 | 0:00.0153 |
| 3 | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 0:51.0854 | 0:00.0446 |
| 4 | SP Tools Racing | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 0:51.1106 | 0:00.0698 |
| 5 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.1289 | 0:00.0881 |
| 6 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 0:51.1989 | 0:00.1581 |
| 7 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.2162 | 0:00.1754 |
| 8 | Irwin Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Ford Falcon FG | 0:51.2224 | 0:00.1816 |
| 9 | Lucky 7 Racing | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 0:51.2277 | 0:00.1869 |
| 10 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.2957 | 0:00.2549 |
| 11 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.3563 | 0:00.3155 |
| 12 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.3825 | 0:00.3417 |
| 13 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 0:51.4445 | 0:00.4037 |
| 14 | Tony D’Alberto Racing | Tony D’Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 0:51.4461 | 0:00.4053 |
| 15 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.4461 | 0:00.4053 |
| 16 | Team iSelect | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.4769 | 0:00.4361 |
| 17 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.4778 | 0:00.4370 |
| 18 | Team Norton DJR | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 0:51.4926 | 0:00.4518 |
| 19 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.5074 | 0:00.4666 |
| 20 | VIP Petfoods | Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 0:51.5138 | 0:00.4730 |
| 21 | Tekno Autosports | Michael Patrizi | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.5180 | 0:00.4772 |
| 22 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.5310 | 0:00.4902 |
| 23 | Jim Beam Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 0:51.6710 | 0:00.6302 |
| 24 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.7106 | 0:00.6698 |
| 25 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.7217 | 0:00.6809 |
| 26 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.8370 | 0:00.7962 |
| 27 | Pepsi Max Crew | David Russell | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:51.8909 | 0:00.8501 |
| 28 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 0:52.1099 | 0:01.0691 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Tasmania Challenge Race Guide
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