Winterbottom takes fourth consecutive pole

Mark Winterbottom has taken his fourth consecutive pole position in the V8 Supercars Championship after emerging fastest from the Top 10 Shootout in Townsville.

Winterbottom was the second last car on track, and undercut the 1:13.08s benchmark set by team-mate Will Davison by 0.13s.

With provisional pole-sitter Jamie Whincup then falling 0.12s short of the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, Winterbottom became the first drive since Mark Skaife in 1998 to take four consecutive V8 Supercars Championship pole positions.

Will Davison and Craig Lowndes will share the second row of the grid, while Garth Tander, Lee Holdsworth, Steven Johnson, David Reynolds Rick Kelly and Steve Owen rounded out the shootout runners.

Lowndes survived a close encounter with the Turn 3 exit wall on his lap, while Rick Kelly lost time early with a lack of rear tyre temperature.

Race 14 of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship will get underway at 15:35 local time.

CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s qualifying report

See below for the full Top 10 Shootout result

Listen below to Mark Winterbottom’s comments after the session
Winterbottom pole Townsville Saturday 2011 by speedcafe

See below for Speedcafe.com’s Townsville V8 Race Guide