Mark Winterbottom has pipped Ford Performance Racing stable-mate David Reynolds to score pole position for Race 10 of the V8 Supercars Championship at Phillip Island.
Winterbottom and Reynolds set their best times of 1:32.20s and 1:32.25s respectively with less than three of the session’s 20 minutes remaining.
The Orrcon Steel-backed driver was assured pole when neither were able to improve as their tyres faded during the final sector of their last laps.
Jason Bright will share the second row of the grid with Will Davison, while Tim Slade, Rick Kelly, Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup, Garth Tander and Lee Holdsworth complete the top 10.
Whincup set the pace for much of the session but fell down the order in the final five minutes having been unable to improve on his third and final run.
All three FPR Falcons lingered outside the top 10 until completing their first green-tyre laps at the halfway point.
Winterbottom’s eventual pole time proved just 0.06s slower than Craig Lowndes’ Phillip Island qualifying lap record set in 1999.
Winterbottom has now taken two Armor All Pole Awards this season following his earlier effort in qualifying for Race 3 of the championship at Symmons Plains.
Race 10 of the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship is set to take place at 1605 local time.
See below for audio from pole-sitter Mark Winterbottom.
See below for the full Race 10 qualifying result
| 1 | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.1320 | |
| 2 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.2519 | 0:00.1199 |
| 3 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.3373 | 0:00.2053 |
| 4 | Trading Post FPR Ford | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.3838 | 0:00.2518 |
| 5 | Lucky 7 Racing | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.4118 | 0:00.2798 |
| 6 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.4155 | 0:00.2835 |
| 7 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.4368 | 0:00.3048 |
| 8 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.5215 | 0:00.3895 |
| 9 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.5431 | 0:00.4111 |
| 10 | Irwin Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.6438 | 0:00.5118 |
| 11 | SP Tools Racing | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.6510 | 0:00.5190 |
| 12 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.9099 | 0:00.7779 |
| 13 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.0355 | 0:00.9035 |
| 14 | VIP Petfoods | Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:33.0428 | 0:00.9108 |
| 15 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:33.0660 | 0:00.9340 |
| 16 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.1772 | 0:01.0452 |
| 17 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.2250 | 0:01.0930 |
| 18 | Jim Beam Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:33.3130 | 0:01.1810 |
| 19 | Tekno Autosports | Michael Patrizi | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.3218 | 0:01.1898 |
| 20 | Pepsi Max Crew | Greg Murphy | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.3471 | 0:01.2151 |
| 21 | Team Hiflex | Tony D’Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 1:33.3547 | 0:01.2227 |
| 22 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.4526 | 0:01.3206 |
| 23 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.4671 | 0:01.3351 |
| 24 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.5750 | 0:01.4430 |
| 25 | Team iSelect | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.6303 | 0:01.4983 |
| 26 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.7258 | 0:01.5938 |
| 27 | Team Norton DJR | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:33.7291 | 0:01.5971 |
| 28 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.8324 | 0:01.7004 |
Click below to read Speedcafe.com’s Phillip Island 300 Race Guide.
