Craig Lowndes has taken the first Armor All Pole Award of the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship season at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide
Lowndes was the ninth driver on the circuit in the top 10 shootout, and moved to the top of the order by completing a 1:21.27s lap that proved 0.29s quicker than previous fast man Garth Tander.
Tander will start second, with Will Davison and Jonathon Webb sharing the second row.
Webb was arguably the star of the session after narrowly squeaking into the top 10 at the end of qualifying. The Tekno Autosports Commodore set an early benchmark that could not be matched by the following entries of David Reynolds, Fabian Coulthard and Tim Slade.
Jamie Whincup was just fifth fastest after an uncharacteristically off-the-pace effort, while Slade, Mark Winterbottom, David Reynolds, Fabian Coulthard and Shane van Gisbergen rounded out the top 10.
Winterbottom had been the last car on the circuit after topping qualifying, but never threatened to take pole – the Orrcon Ford losing 0.3s to Lowndes’ benchmark in the first sector alone.
The V8 Supercars will return to the Adelaide Parklands Street Circuit for a morning warm-up at 905 tomorrow.
See below for the full Race 1 starting order
| 1 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.2738 | |
| 2 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.2908 | 0:00.0170 |
| 3 | Trading Post FPR Ford | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.4194 | 0:00.1456 |
| 4 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.5164 | 0:00.2426 |
| 5 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.5468 | 0:00.2730 |
| 6 | Lucky 7 Racing | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.6288 | 0:00.3550 |
| 7 | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.7093 | 0:00.4355 |
| 8 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.8078 | 0:00.5340 |
| 9 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:22.0289 | 0:00.7551 |
| 10 | SP Tools Racing | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:22.3105 | 0:01.0367 |
| 10 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.2368 | 0:00.4209 |
| 11 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.2386 | 0:00.4227 |
| 12 | Tony D’Alberto Racing | Tony D’Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.3746 | 0:00.5587 |
| 13 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.4035 | 0:00.5876 |
| 14 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.4148 | 0:00.5989 |
| 15 | Irwin Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.4880 | 0:00.6721 |
| 16 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.4966 | 0:00.6807 |
| 17 | V.I.P. Petfoods | Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.5431 | 0:00.7272 |
| 18 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.5915 | 0:00.7756 |
| 19 | Team Norton DJR | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.5928 | 0:00.7769 |
| 20 | Tekno Autosports | Michael Patrizi | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.6802 | 0:00.8643 |
| 21 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.7532 | 0:00.9373 |
| 22 | Pepsi Max Crew | Greg Murphy | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:21.7964 | 0:00.9805 |
| 23 | Jim Beam Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:21.9426 | 0:01.1267 |
| 24 | Team iSelect | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:22.1907 | 0:01.3748 |
| 25 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:22.1991 | 0:01.3832 |
| 26 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:22.4358 | 0:01.6199 |
| 27 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:29.3326 | 0:08.5167 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Clipsal 500 Adelaide Race Guide
