Greg Murphy takes pole position at Bathurst

2004 Bathurst winner Greg Murphy has taken pole position at Mount Panorama for tomorrow’s Bathurst 1000km race. Murphy will start ahead of Ford Performance Racing’s Will Davison & Triple Eight’s Craig Lowndes.

Will Davison was originally set to miss the shootout after qualifying 11th, but a five-place grid drop for Lee Holdsworth after missing the weigh-in after qualifying on Friday saw Davison promoted into the top ten and set out for the first run in the top ten shootout.

Although Davison’s lap was two seconds slower than Lowndes’ 2010 record, it was a hard target to beat, with Shane van Gisbergen, Steve Owen, Craig Lowndes and James Courtney all failing to improve on it. Murphy was the only driver to better Davison, setting the pole time of 2:08.801.

The top three from yesterday’s qualifying would go last, but as it began to rain at the top of the circuit, any chance of Jamies Whincup, Mark Winterbottom or Garth Tander taking pole position was wiped out. The best lap of the last three was Whincup’s, 17 seconds down on Murphy and he will start eighth, with Holden Racing Team driver Tander ninth and FPR’s Mark Winterbottom completing the top ten.