Craig Lowndes has leapt to the fastest time after a perfectly executed last gasp lap in qualifying at the SKYCITY Triple Crown at Darwin.
Lowndes waited until the dying seconds to nail his best tour, stopping the clock at 1:09.6849s to nab his Red Bull Racing Australia team-mate Jamie Whincup.
With less than two minutes remaining in the 20-minute session, Whincup was down in 19th but managed to produce a 1:09.6955s lap and slide to the top albeit briefly.
He found himself eclipsed in the end by Lowndes’ corker with Mark Winterbottom (Ford Perfomance Racing) qualifying third fastest in 1:09.6982s.
Winterbottom had uncorked his best lap with less than five minutes remaining but could not respond to the late flurry by the Red Bull pair.
With less than 10 minutes to go Fabian Coulthard (Brad Jones Racing) and Will Davison (FPR) became the first to crack the 1:10s barrier.
However Coulthard ended up being shuffled back to 11th, missing out on the top 10 shootout to follow at 12.55pm (NT time) while Davison finished with the sixth best time.
Jason Bright was fourth fastest with James Courtney fifth.
David Reynolds was seventh in the Bottle-O Falcon with Garth Tander, Shane van Gisbergen and Rick Kelly rounding out the top 10.
QUALIFYING: Race 17 – Hidden Valley Raceway Darwin
| Pos | No. | Team | Driver | Car | Time |
| 1 | 888 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1:09.6849 |
| 2 | 1 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | +0.0106 |
| 3 | 5 | Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | +0.0133 |
| 4 | 8 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | +0.0868 |
| 5 | 22 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | +0.1474 |
| 6 | 6 | Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | +0.1716 |
| 7 | 55 | The Bottle-O FPR Ford | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | +0.1800 |
| 8 | 2 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | +0.2280 |
| 9 | 97 | TEKNO Team VIP | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | +0.2402 |
| 10 | 15 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | +0.3079 |
| 11 | 14 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | +0.3084 |
| 12 | 34 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VF | +0.3145 |
| 13 | 47 | Heavy Haulage Australia Racing | Tim Slade | Mercedes E63 AMG | +0.3505 |
| 14 | 33 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Holden Commodore VF | +0.4287 |
| 15 | 36 | Norton 360 Racing | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | +0.4623 |
| 16 | 19 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VF | +0.5003 |
| 17 | 88 | Dodo Insurance Racing | Dean Fiore | Holden Commodore VF | +0.5040 |
| 18 | 21 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VF | +0.5449 |
| 19 | 12 | Wilson Security Racing | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG | +0.5508 |
| 20 | 3 | Team HIFLEX | Tony D’Alberto | Holden Commodore VF | +0.5622 |
| 21 | 9 | SP Tools Racing | Maro Engel | Mercedes E63 AMG | +0.5688 |
| 22 | 4 | IRWIN Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Mercedes E63 AMG | +0.6128 |
| 23 | 7 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | +0.6589 |
| 24 | 18 | Jeld-wen FPR Ford | Alex Davison | Ford Falcon FG | +0.8136 |
| 25 | 17 | Wilson Security Racing | Tim Blanchard | Ford Falcon FG | +0.8542 |
| 26 | 80 | ekol Racing | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore VF | +0.8807 |
| 27 | 360 | Norton 360 Racing | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | +0.9382 |
| 28 | 66 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VF | +1.0841 |
