Winterbottom denies Whincup pole

Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom beat championship leader Jamie Whincup (Triple Eight Holden) to pole position for the first of this weekend's races at Darwin's Hidden Valley Raceway. The top 10 shoot-out qualifying system is back in use this weekend, and after going quickest in the opening part of qualifying, Winterbottom was the last man out in the pole session - going on to edge out Whincup by just 0.01 seconds. Stone Brothers' Shane van Gisbergen registered his best qualifying result of 2011 so far in third, sharing row two with Dick Johnson Ford driver Steven Johnson.

Joseph Francis Nemechek III Ryan Joseph Newman Kyle Eugene Petty Floyd Anthony Raines Scott Russell Riggs