» V8s: FPR claims qualifying 1-2 in Tasmania

Ford Performance Racing’s dominant start to the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship season continues, with Mark Winterbottom just edging out team-mate and early points leader Will Davison to pole position ahead of the opening race at this weekend’s Falken Tasmania Challenge from Symmons Plains Raceway.

Winterbottom’s 54.4020s lap-time gave him the twenty-second pole position of his career, his first in almost a year. His last pole position came at the Sucrogen 400 at Townsville. Team-mate Davidson ensured an all-FPR front-row, just missing out on top spot by one-hundredth of a second.

Stone Brothers Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen looked set to claim his first V8 Supercars pole position, only to be displaced by Winterbottom and Davison in the final minute of the twenty-minute qualifying session. He ran wide at the final corner of his last flying lap.

The New Zealander share the second row of the grid with defending series champion Jamie Whincup (Triple 8 Racing), with Whincup’s team-mate Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander (Holden Racing Team) occupying the third row.

FPR stablemate David Reynolds showed his inherent pace with the seventh-fastest time, while rookie driver Taz Douglas gave Lucas Dumbrell Racing its best ever qualifying result when he qualified eighth-fastest.

Jonathon Webb finished the session ninth-fastest in his rebuilt Tekno Holden Commodore, while Steven Johnson (Dick Johnson Racing) made a welcome return to the top-ten for the first time since August last year.

2012 V8 Supercars Falken Tasmania Challenge – Race 1 Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Mark Winterbottom	Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing	51.4020
2.	Will Davison	Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.0999
3.	Shane van Gisbergen	SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 0.1062
4.	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	+ 0.1094
5.	Craig Lowndes	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	+ 0.1268
5.	Garth Tander	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 0.1875
7.	David Reynolds	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash	+ 0.2516
8.	Taz Douglas	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 0.2701
9.	Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports	+ 0.3246
10.	Steven Johnson	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.3734
11.	James Moffat	Team Norton / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.3906
12.	Lee Holdsworth	Irwin Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 0.3951
13.	Tim Slade	Lucky 7 Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 0.4151
14.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 0.4268
15.	James Courtney	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 0.4448
16.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 0.4688
17.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.5524
18.	Steve Owen	VIP Petfoods / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.5651
19.	Russell Ingall	Supercheap Auto / Walkinshaw Racing	+ 0.5755
20.	Michael Caruso	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.5849
21.	Tony D’Alberto	Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 0.6328
22.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.6743
23.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.7092
24.	Michael Patrizi	Tekno Autosports	+ 0.7094
25.	David Russell	Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing	+ 0.8662
26.	Dean Fiore	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.8756
27.	Karl Reindler	Fair Dinkum Sheds / Kelly Racing	+ 1.0050
28.	David Wall	Wilson Security / Brad Jones Racing	+ 1.2453