Holdsworth on pole in Sydney

Lee Holdsworth has taken pole position for Race 25 in Sydney ahead of FPR’s Mark Winterbottom, with TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup third.

In the top ten shoot-out qualifying format, with Jamie Whincup having claimed provisional pole in qualifying, it was Holdsworth who came out on top, putting his GRM Holden Commodore VE2 on pole position with a best lap of 1:29.873.

Mark Winterbottom, who has an outside chance of the title this weekend will share the front row in his Ford Performance Racing Falcon.

Jamie Whincup was third quickest, just one-tenth of a second down on Holdsworth’s time.

The second GRM car of Michael Caruso will start fourth, with a good performance from the SBR run Wilson Security Racing entry of Tim Slade fifth fastest, with all three of SBR’s cars making the top ten.

Championship leader James Courtney was sixth fastest in the Jim Beam Racing Ford Falcon.

Craig Lowndes, now out of the title hunt, was the first driver outside of the shoot-out, qualifying in 11th place.

The Holden Racing Team’s Commodores struggled in qualifying, with Will Davison, in his last race weekend for HRT qualifying in 17th, and team-mate Garth Tander in 22nd.

The tricky street circuit also caught out Brad Jones Racing driver Jason Bright and Bottle-O Racing’s Paul Dumbrell, with both unable to set competitive times and will start from the back of the grid.