Winterbottom Pole one of his "Best" Laps

Mark Winterbottom has driven one of his best qualifying laps to claim pole position for today’s 200km race at the Sucrogen Townsville 400.

Battling bent steering and low fuel in his Pepsi Max Ford Falcon FG, Winterbottom claimed pole after qualifying was reduced to a hectic two minute shootout by a red flag.

Kiwi young gun Scott McLaughlin will line up alongside Winterbottom on the front row in his Fujitsu Holden Commodore VF, with David Reynolds (The Bottle-O Falcon) and the Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander on row two.

Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander will start fifth in his Commodore but teammate and Championship leader Jamie Whincup struggled in qualifying for the second day in a row, managing only 15th fastest time.

Rounding out the top 10 in a grid jumbled by the red flag are Alex Davison (Jeld-Wen Falcon), Tony D’Alberto (HIFLEX Commodore), James Courtney (HRT), yesterday’s winner Will Davison (FPR Falcon) and McLaughlin’s teammate Alex Premat.

The red flag was triggered when Russell Ingall’s Supercheap Auto Commodore broke its rear suspension and a coil spring was left lying on the edge of the track.

“It was awesome,” said Winterbottom, who finished second to Davison yesterday. “I felt the pressure because the fuel was low and I had hit a kerb on the first outing and the steering was all out of whack.

“I didn’t feel good going out there but I ragged that lap and it was probably one of the best laps I have ever done in my life.

“I feel really pumped after that one, things were against us a little bit, we had one lap there was traffic, the tyres had already done a lap and we were low on fuel so you feel all those pressures.”

McLaughlin faded late in the Saturday race because of failed shock absorber, but had run in the top 10 before that.

“The guys gave a great car today, so looking for a really good run today. I just pretended it was a shootout, had a good crack and it was fun," he said.

Several leading drivers were caught out by the late red flag. Saturday pole qualifier Shane van Gisbergen (VIP Commodore) was 21st, Jason Bright (BOC Commodore) 17th, Jamie Whincup (Red Bull Racing Australia Commodore) 15th, and Fabian Coulthard (Lockwood Commodore) only 11th.

Click here for full qualifying results.