Holdsworth tops another wild Sydney qualifying

Lee Holdsworth has taken his second pole position in two days at the Sydney Telstra 500 ahead of the 26th and final race of the 2010 V8 Supercars Championship Series this afternoon.

Holdsworth (Fujitsu Racing) set a 1:28.80s lap with less than three minutes remaining to take his fourth career pole – three of which have come at the Sydney Olympic Park street circuit.

In a repeat of yesterday, Jamie Whincup (TeamVodafone) put on a wild display throughout the 20 minute session.

Offs at Turn 8 and Turn 9 early in the session left Whincup slowest when a red flag appeared after six minutes – called due to Paul Dumbrell (The Bottle-O Racing) pushing a tyre bundle onto the circuit at Turn 7.

Whincup moved into the top spot with less than four minutes remaining, but brushing the apex and exit walls at Turn 12 ruined his final attempt to reclaim the position from Holdsworth as the chequered flag fell.

Mark Winterbottom (Orrcon Steel Ford Performance Racing) will start third after setting the early pace, ahead of Jason Bright (Trading Post Racing) and Will Davison (Toll HRT).

The HRT driver ended the session with damage to the front right corner of his car after collecting the Turn 8 tyre barrier.

Michael Caruso (Fujitsu Racing), Todd Kelly (Jack Daniel’s Racing), Garth Tander (Toll HRT), Craig Lowndes (TeamVodafone) and Tim Slade (Wilson Security Racing) round out the top 10.

James Courtney (Jim Beam Racing), who needs just a 22nd place finish to seal the championship today, could manage only 12th in the session after his final two attempts ended down the Turn 9 escape road.

Andrew Jones (Team BOC) brought out the session’s second red flag when he collected the Turn 11 tyre barrier halfway through the session.

The Team BOC Commodore will start the 250km race from 28th.

Race 26 is scheduled to get under way at 14:35 this afternoon.