Craig Lowndes pounced on the qualifying misfortunes of his rivals to take pole position for Race 30 in the Top 10 Shootout.

The second-last man on track, Lowndes recorded a 1:10.96s to edge previous fast-man James Courtney.

Lowndes’ lap was enough to withstand the lap of qualifying fast-man Garth Tander, who slotted into third.

Although Lowndes was officially given the Armor All Pole Award following the session, a qualifying incident with Will Davison remains under investigation.

Tony D’Alberto, Scott McLaughlin, David Reynolds and Rick Kelly completed the top seven, while Michael Caruso will start ninth after having his time removed for not respecting the track limits.

Fabian Coulthard set the sixth fastest but also found himself excluded for missing the weigh bridge on his return to pitlane.

Shane van Gisbergen also had a difficult run, cutting the first chicane after locking his rear brakes on entry.

Lowndes noted that the expected strict policing of kerb hopping in the Shootout made it particularly difficult.

“I was a bit nervous because after qualifying the rules came along that you have to have two wheels on track, where in qualifying we were basically jumping all four wheels,” he said.

“It made a little bit of a different but we’re all under the same pressure.

“I just wanted to do a good clean lap and see where we ended up.”

Lowndes’ fellow title contenders Mark Winterbottom, Will Davison and Jamie Whincup will start just 14th, 21st and 25th respectively after various issues in qualifying.

See below for the combined qualifying and Top 10 Shootout result