Mark Winterbottom will be the last man out in this afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout after topping Saturday qualifying at the Skycity Triple Crown.
The Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon driver set his best time of 1:08.56s in the first half of the 20 minute session, before saving a set of soft tyres by remaining in the pits during the closing stages.
Will Davison and David Reynolds both moved to within 0.1s of their FPR stablemate’s benchmark in the final minutes, while Jamie Whincup, Fabian Coulthard, Tim Slade, Lee Holdsworth, Garth Tander, Shane van Gisbergen and Rick Kelly completed the top 10.
With each soft tyre set only proving good enough for one quick lap on the sun-bathed circuit, the majority of the field waited until the final four minutes to head out for their final flyer.
Race 11 podium finishers Jason Bright and Craig Lowndes were two drivers who failed to improve on their last run and will start 12th and 20th respectively.
The session was typically hard fought as less than 1.4s separated Winterbottom’s time from that set by James Moffat at the foot of the order.
The Top 10 Shootout is set to take place at 1255 local time.
Listen below to Mark Winterbottom’s comments after the session
See below for the full session result
| 1 | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:08.5587 | |
| 2 | Trading Post FPR Ford | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 1:08.6012 | 0:00.0425 |
| 3 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:08.6525 | 0:00.0938 |
| 4 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:08.6608 | 0:00.1021 |
| 5 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:08.6745 | 0:00.1158 |
| 6 | Lucky 7 Racing | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 1:08.7802 | 0:00.2215 |
| 7 | Irwin Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Ford Falcon FG | 1:08.8601 | 0:00.3014 |
| 8 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:08.9993 | 0:00.4406 |
| 9 | SP Tools Racing | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.0034 | 0:00.4447 |
| 10 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.0058 | 0:00.4471 |
| 11 | VIP Petfoods | Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.1558 | 0:00.5971 |
| 12 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.1567 | 0:00.5980 |
| 13 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.1627 | 0:00.6040 |
| 14 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.1655 | 0:00.6068 |
| 15 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.1704 | 0:00.6117 |
| 16 | Team Hiflex | Tony D’Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.1840 | 0:00.6253 |
| 17 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.2100 | 0:00.6513 |
| 18 | Tekno Autosports | Michael Patrizi | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.2958 | 0:00.7371 |
| 19 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.3022 | 0:00.7435 |
| 20 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.3211 | 0:00.7624 |
| 21 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.5030 | 0:00.9443 |
| 22 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.5744 | 0:01.0157 |
| 23 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.6683 | 0:01.1096 |
| 24 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.6758 | 0:01.1171 |
| 25 | Pepsi Max Crew | David Russell | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.7672 | 0:01.2085 |
| 26 | Team iSelect | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:09.7780 | 0:01.2193 |
| 27 | Jim Beam Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.8808 | 0:01.3221 |
| 28 | Team Norton DJR | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:09.8994 | 0:01.3407 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Hidden Valley Race Guide
