» V8s: Dumbrell claims Race 2 pole

A year on from claiming the first podium of his V8 Supercars career, Paul Dumbrell has secured pole position for the longer second race of the Falken Tasmania Challenge at Symmons Plains Raceway.

The Bottle-O Racing driver has been in red-hot form throughout practice, breaking the track’s unofficial lap record before qualifying well in yesterday’s qualifying session. Brake troubles sent him falling down the order in yesterday’s race, but it would seem that the problem was cured this morning.

Dumbrell, who recently announced he would retire from full-time competition at the end of the year, rocketed around the track with a time of 51.3062 seconds, edging out Mark Winterbottom (Ford Performance Racing) by just 0.0231 seconds.

Series leader and yesterday’s race-winner Jamie Whincup – who had held pole position for much of the session – will start from third place in his Team Vodafone Holden, in prime position to claim back-to-back wins this weekend.

He shares the second row with Shane van Gisbergen (Stone Brother Ford), while Will Davison (Ford Performance Racing) and Rick Kelly (Jack Daniel’s Racing) start from the third row.

Whincup’s chief championship rival and team-mate Craig Lowndes will start from a lowly 15th position after sliding off the circuit at the Hairpin during the 20-minute qualifying session.

[Image and video via V8 Supercars]