Tander to Top, Points Leaders in Trouble

The Championship leaders are in strife as Garth Tander shoots to provisional pole from 11th with a 1min10.1593 lap.

Holden Racing Team teammate James Courtney earned third in the session, the Red Bull Racing Commodore of Craig Lowndes splitting the two.

Lowndes is the only one of the Championship top four to go through to the ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout – and an incident between #888 and Will Davison remains under investigation.

Things clearly haven’t gone to plan for the points leaders – Jamie Whincup will start from 25th after a red flag was called to collect debris that had fallen off the #1 when Whincup clobbered a tyre barrier.

Davison did not make a dent in the session, to start from 21st.

And teammate Mark Winterbottom had issues early with damage to both the front and rear left side suspension. The team repaired the car, though he only managed 14th.

But it’s a good news day for Nissan with three cars in the top 11, with Rick Kelly sixth, Michael Caruso eighth and James Moffat 11th.

Drivers to go through to the ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout (and run in reverse order) are Tander, Lowndes, Courtney, Shane van Gisbergen, Fabian Coulthard, Rick Kelly, Tony D’Alberto, Caruso, McLaughlin and David Reynolds – to fly the flag solo for Ford.

Others to note include Tim Blanchard in 11th, the first Erebus Mercedes Lee Holdsworth in 13th, Chaz Mostert in 23rd and the fourth Nissan of Todd Kelly in 26th.

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