Mark Winterbottom has recorded the fastest time in a thrilling Friday V8 Supercars qualifying session at the Clipsal 500.

Winterbottom’s Ford Performance Racing team-mate Will Davison sat at the top of the order before being edged by first Craig Lowndes and then the Orrcon Ford inside the final 90s.

Winterbottom’s 1:20.82s effort is the quickest ever for a V8 Supercar around the Adelaide Parklands Street Circuit. The top three drivers were separated by less than 0.05s at the conclusion of the session.

Jamie Whincup, Shane van Gisbergen, Garth Tander, Tim Slade, Fabian Coulthard, David Reynolds and Jonathon Webb complete the top 10 ahead of the shootout later this afternoon.

The qualifying session was punctuated by two red flag periods, with the first called after just five minutes when Karl Reindler tagged the exit wall at Turn 3. The Kelly Racing Commodore was left stranded in the Turn 4 run-off area with rear-end damage.

“I made a mistake on the kerb at Turn 2, went a little bit wide out on the marbles, and once you’re out there on a street circuit it’s pretty hard to get it back,” said Reindler afterward. “I hit the wall nice and square, but it was enough to damage the diff a little bit.”

Whincup had sat atop the order at the time of the red flag, and was the only driver not to return to the track before the second stoppage, this time for Jason Bright’s Team BOC Commodore, which had come to rest in the Turn 11 gravel trap.

Whincup was the first to return to the circuit when the green flags flew, moving briefly to second behind Davison, before the late efforts from Lowndes and Winterbottom.

French rookie Alexandre Premat will start his first V8 Supercars race from 25th tomorrow, despite qualifying just 1.3s slower than Winterbottom.

The top 10 shootout will take place at 1605 this afternoon.

See below for the full qualifying result

See below for Speedcafe.com’s Clipsal 500 Adelaide Race Guide