Craig Lowndes has broken his Adelaide qualifying drought to claim a fine pole position for tomorrow’s season-opening V8 Supercars race at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide. The TeamVodafone Holden driver pipped HRT’s Garth Tander to top spot by just two-hundredths of a second in the Top-10 Qualifying Shootout this afternoon.
With last year’s pole-sitter Will Davison starting from third place for Ford Performance Racing, he shares the second row of the grid with Jonathon Webb, who delivered a shock fourth place in his sponsor-less Tekno Holden.
Webb had narrowly squeaked into the all-important Top-10 shootout, and his one-lap effort proved unbeatable for several competitors, including big-name runners like Jamie Whincup, Mark Winterbottom (fastest in the first phase of qualifying) and Shane van Gisbergen.
Winterbottom had headed the timesheets in the first qualifying session from Lowndes, Davison and Whincup, while David Renolds ensured that all three Ford Performance Racing entries were in the top-five.
The session was interrupted by two red flags. The first came when Karl Reindler’s Holden slapped the wall at Turn 3, and the second one came when Jason Bright had a spin in his Brad Jones Holden, sliding into the Turn 11 kitty litter.
Tomorrow’s action at Adelaide will see a twenty-minute morning warm-up, followed by the first 78-lap, 250-kilometre race in the afternoon.
2012 V8 Supercars Clipsal 500 Adelaide – Race 1 Qualifying Results:
| Driver | Entry / Team | Result | |||
| 1. | Craig Lowndes |  |
Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing | 1:21.2738 | T10 |
| 2. | Garth Tander | |
TOLL / Holden Racing Team | 1:21.2908 | T10 |
| 3. | Will Davison |  |
Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing | 1:21.4194 | T10 |
| 4. | Jonathon Webb | |
Tekno | 1:21.5164 | T10 |
| 5. | Jamie Whincup | |
Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing | 1:21.5468 | T10 |
| 6. | Tim Slade | |
Lucky 7 Racing / Stone Brothers Racing | 1:21.6288 | T10 |
| 7. | Mark Winterbottom | |
Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing | 1:21.7093 | T10 |
| 8. | David Reynolds | |
The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash | 1:22.8078 | T10 |
| 9. | Fabian Coulthard | |
Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing | 1:22.0289 | T10 |
| 10. | Shane van Gisbergen | |
SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing | 1:22.3105 | T10 |
| 11. | Todd Kelly | |
Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing | 1:21.2386 | Q1 |
| 12. | Tony D’Alberto | |
Tony D’Alberto Racing | 1:21.3746 | Q1 |
| 13. | James Courtney | |
TOLL / Holden Racing Team | 1:21.4035 | Q1 |
| 14. | Rick Kelly | |
Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing | 1:21.4148 | Q1 |
| 15. | Lee Holdsworth | |
Irwin Racing / Stone Brothers Racing | 1:21.4800 | Q1 |
| 16. | Michael Caruso | |
Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport | 1:21.4966 | Q1 |
| 17. | Steve Owen | |
VIP Petfoods / Dick Johnson Racing | 1:21.5431 | Q1 |
| 18. | Steven Johnson | |
Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing | 1:21.5915 | Q1 |
| 19. | James Moffat | |
Team Norton / Dick Johnson Racing | 1:21.5928 | Q1 |
| 20. | Michael Patrizi | |
Tekno | 1:21.6802 | Q1 |
| 21. | Russell Ingall | |
Supercheap Auto / Walkinshaw Racing | 1:21.7532 | Q1 |
| 22. | Greg Murphy | |
Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing | 1:21.7964 | Q1 |
| 23. | Dean Fiore | |
Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing | 1:21.9426 | Q1 |
| 24. | Taz Douglas | |
Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport | 1:22.1907 | Q1 |
| 25. | Alexandre Prémat | |
Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport | 1:22.1991 | Q1 |
| 26. | David Wall | |
Wilson Security / Brad Jones Racing | 1:22.4358 | Q1 |
| 27. | Jason Bright | |
Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing | 1:29.3326 | Q1 |
| 28. | Karl Reindler | |
Fair Dinkum Sheds / Kelly Racing | no time |
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Richard Bailey
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