» V8s: Winterbottom wins Phillip Island pole

Mark Winterbottom has given every indication that Ford Performance Racing will be a serious threat at this weekend’s V8 Supercars Phillip Island 300 by winning pole position for today’s opening race. The Victorian narrowly edged out FPR team-mate David Reynolds for top spot, while Will Davison will start from fourth place.

While series points leader Jamie Whincup led the way early on in today’s twenty-minute qualifying session, the three FPR cars entered contention for pole with their first flying laps on new tyres halfway into the session.

While Whincup was unable to improve his time on his final run – falling to eighth at the end – Ford’s factory trio moved to the pointy end of the timesheets on their final runs, with no one able to break the Winterbottom-Reynolds front row.

Jason Bright was the quickest Holden driver in the field with the third-fastest effort overall, while Tim Slade rounds out the top five in his Stone Brothers Ford.

Completing the top ten places are Rick Kelly, Craig Lowndes, Whincup, Garth Tander and Lee Holdsworth.

The first of this weekend’s two races gets underway at 4:05pm local time (GMT+10).

2012 V8 Supercars Phillip Island 300 – Race 1 Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Mark Winterbottom	Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing	1:32.1320
2.	David Reynolds	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash	+ 0.1199
3.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.2053
4.	Will Davison	Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2518
5.	Tim Slade	Lucky 7 Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 0.2798
6.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 0.2835
7.	Craig Lowndes	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	+ 0.3048
8.	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	+ 0.3895
9.	Garth Tander	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 0.4111
10.	Lee Holdsworth	Irwin Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 0.5118
11.	Shane van Gisbergen	SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 0.5190
12.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.7779
13.	Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports	+ 0.9035
14.	Steve Owen	VIP Petfoods / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.9108
15.	Steven Johnson	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 0.9340
16.	James Courtney	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 1.0452
17.	Michael Caruso	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 1.0930
18.	Dean Fiore	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1.1810
19.	Michael Patrizi	Tekno Autosports	+ 1.1898
20.	Greg Murphy	Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing	+ 1.2151
21.	Tony D’Alberto	HIFLEX Racing / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 1.2227
22.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 1.3207
23.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 1.3351
24.	Russell Ingall	Supercheap Auto / Walkinshaw Racing	+ 1.4430
25.	Taz Douglas	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 1.4983
26.	Karl Reindler	Fair Dinkum Sheds / Kelly Racing	+ 1.5938
27.	James Moffat	Team Norton / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1.5971
28.	David Wall	Wilson Security / Brad Jones Racing	+ 1.7004