Shock qualifying results for first race

A huge hit for Craig Lowndes in the first back to back qualifying session at the Sydney NRMA 500 triggered the red flag and an unusual grid for the first of this afternoon's two 125km races.

However, Lowndes was not the first to eat the concrete at turn six with returning star Marcos Ambrose first nudging his XBOX Falcon there and running off at the escape road.

Red Bull team boss Mark Dutton said his team was unsure whether Lowndes' incident was caused by a mechanical issue or driver error.

"We haven't heard anything from Craig apart from he's ok and his apologies. Don't know if it was a failure or going in too hot," he said.

"It looks pretty bad," Dutton said of the damage to the Commodore. "It'll be tight to get it perfect for the race."

The early end of the session, with just over a minute left for many to register flying laps, saw Will Davison score Erebus' first ARMOR ALL Pole Position.

"You take it any way you can get it!" Davison said.

"Obviously the car in the wall would've helped us ... we're quite competitive anyway. It's pretty amazing, we haven't had the best run til now."

Even Davison was shocked at the P1 finish,"I cant believe I'm on pole, I don't think I've been top 15 all weekend!"

It's good news for the team, which has been unable to get teammate Lee Holdsworth's car out for qualifying after a power steering drama led to a heavy hit in the morning's practice.

Alongside Davison on the front row is good friend and Champion elect Jamie Whincup, with David Reynolds, Tim Slade, Scott McLaughlin, Rick Kelly, Mark Winterbottom, Fabian Coulthard and Chaz Mostert in the top 10.

Others to note include early fast man Shane van Gisbergen 19, Garth Tander 21, James Courtney 22 and Marcos Ambrose 24.

Click here for full results.

Another 10-minute qualifying session has just gotten underway.