» V8s: Rick Kelly on pole at Sandown for Race 1

Rick Kelly has claimed pole position for the first of two races at the Norton 360 Challenge at Sandown Raceway, beating championship leader Jamie Whincup (Team Vodafone Holden) to top spot by two-tenths of a second in a rain-hit qualifying session.

Whincup’s main championship rival, team-mate Craig Lowndes, will line up from the back of the grid after a disastrous session.

The damp conditions created a gripless surface for the field’s 28 drivers, and even Kelly slid off the road on several occasions during the frantic twenty-minute session.

He and Whincup traded fastest times over the course of the session, before he went on to claim his second pole of the season.

While the pair shares the front row, the other big story was the calamitous session for Lowndes. Usually an ultra-dependable driver in qualifying, Lowndes has placed himself under enormous pressure to keep his title hopes alive, but he’ll have it all to do after qualifying on the back row of the grid.

Will Davison (Ford Performance Racing) and Shane van Gisbergen (Stone Brother Ford) will start on the second row, followed by Tim Slade (Stone Brothers) and David Reynolds (Kelly Racing Holden).

The top-ten is completed by Paul Dumbrell (Rod Nash Ford), James Courtney (Holden Racing Team), Steve Owen (Paul Morris Holden) and Garth Tander (Holden Racing Team).

Credit to Warren Luff (Lucas Dumbrell Holden), who starts a season’s best 11th-fastest after what has been a truly difficult season.

Today’s 39-lap race starts at 4:05pm local time.

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V8 Supercars Norton 360 Sandown Challenge Qualifying Results (Race 1):

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	1:19.8997
2.	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	+ 0.2052
3.	Will Davison	Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.6050
4.	Shane van Gisbergen	SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 0.9221
5.	Tim Slade	Lucky 7 Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 0.9374
6.	David Reynolds	Stratco Racing / Kelly Racing	+ 0.9712
7.	Paul Dumbrell	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash	+ 0.9718
8.	James Courtney	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 0.9828
9.	Steve Owen	VIP Petfoods / Paul Morris Motorsport	+ 1.1099
10.	Garth Tander	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 1.1520
11.	Warren Luff	Gulf Western Oil / Lucas Dumbrell	+ 1.1548
12.	Lee Holdsworth	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 1.3071
13.	Russell Ingall	Supercheap Auto / Paul Morris Motorsport	+ 1.3394
14.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 1.3560
15.	Jonathon Webb	Mother Energy Racing Team / Tekno	+ 1.5322
16.	Greg Murphy	Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing	+ 1.5622
17.	Mark Winterbottom	Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing	+ 1.5700
18.	James Moffat	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1.5770
19.	Fabian Coulthard	Bundaberg Racing / Walkinshaw Racing	+ 1.5842
20.	Steven Johnson	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1.6112
21.	Dean Fiore	Westrac Racing / Triple F Racing	+ 1.8238
22.	Andrew Jones	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 1.8455
23.	Michael Caruso	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 1.9675
24.	Tony D’Alberto	Wilson Security / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 2.2049
25.	Karl Reindler	Fair Dinkum Sheds / Brad Jones Racing	+ 2.3370
26.	Jason Bargwanna	Jana Living Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 2.4828
27.	Craig Lowndes	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	+ 2.4908
28.	Alex Davison	Irwin / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 3.3296