Holden Racing Team driver James Courtney has landed pole position for Race 18 at the SKYCITY Triple Crown round in Darwin.
Courtney landed the prime spot after setting a blindly quick 1:08.5384s and will gave Mark Winterbottom beside him on the front row for the 35-lap race.
Winterbottom dived into second in the dying seconds ahead of FPR team-mate Will Davison as the Ford factory team try to recover from a disastrous Race 17.
Fabian Coulthard was fourth ahead of Jamie Whincup.
Garry Rogers Motorsport driver Scott McLaughlin was the first driver into to dip below 1:09s with his 1:08.955s remaining the time to beat with under two minutes remaining. However McLaughlin was shuffled back to 14th after the late flurry of hot laps.
Race 18 qualifying results
| 1 | James Courtney | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore VF | 1:08.5384* |
| 2 | Mark Winterbottom | Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford | Ford Falcon FG | 1:08.6296 |
| 3 | Will Davison | Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford | Ford Falcon FG | 1:08.6304 |
| 4 | Fabian Coulthard | Lockwood Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:08.6418 |
| 5 | Jamie Whincup | Red Bull Racing Australia | Holden Commodore VF | 1:08.6523 |
| 6 | Tim Slade | Heavy Haulage Australia Racing | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:08.6896 |
| 7 | Jonathon Webb | Tekno Autosports | Holden Commodore VF | 1:08.6922 |
| 8 | David Reynolds | The Bottle-O FPR Ford | Ford Falcon FG | 1:08.7124 |
| 9 | Shane Van Gisbergen | TEKNO Team VIP | Holden Commodore VF | 1:08.7604 |
| 10 | Craig Lowndes | Red Bull Racing Australia | Holden Commodore VF | 1:08.8772 |
| 11 | Jason Bright | Team BOC | Holden Commodore VF | 1:08.8789 |
| 12 | Todd Kelly | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Nissan Altima | 1:08.8858 |
| 13 | Chaz Mostert | Wilson Security Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 1:08.8919 |
| 14 | Scott McLaughlin | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Holden Commodore VF | 1:08.9555 |
| 15 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore VF | 1:08.9584 |
| 16 | David Wall | Wilson Security Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:08.9790 |
| 17 | Dean Fiore | Dodo Insurance Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.0231 |
| 18 | Maro Engel | SP Tools Racing | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:09.1832 |
| 19 | Alexandre Premat | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.1881 |
| 20 | Lee Holdsworth | Irwin Racing | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:09.2190 |
| 21 | Tony D’Alberto | Team HIFLEX | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.2662 |
| 22 | Michael Caruso | Norton 360 Racing | Nissan Altima | 1:09.2736 |
| 23 | Russell Ingall | Supercheap Auto Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.2789 |
| 24 | James Moffat | Norton 360 Racing | Nissan Altima | 1:09.3216 |
| 25 | Scott Pye | ekol Racing | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.3632 |
| 26 | Tim Blanchard | Wilson Security Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.3707 |
| 27 | Alex Davison | Jeld-wen FPR Ford | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.3899 |
| 28 | Rick Kelly | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Nissan Altima | 1:09.4400 |
