Mark Winterbottom has led a Ford Performance Racing 1-2 in qualifying ahead of Race 14’s Top 10 Shootout at the Sucrogen Townsville 400.

The Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon driver used just one set of new soft tyres in the 20 minute session – sitting out the majority after setting an impressive 1:12.26s lap at the halfway mark.

David Reynolds and Jamie Whincup followed a similar strategy to end up second and third respectively, with The Bottle-O Falcon a full 0.27s adrift of its sister entry.

Steve Owen jumped to fourth with his final flying lap, leading a resurgent Dick Johnson Racing that will also see Owen’s team-mates Steven Johnson (eighth fastest) and James Moffat (ninth) in the Top 10 Shootout.

Will Davison, Craig Lowndes and Tony D’Alberto filled fifth through seventh, while Garth Tander languished outside the top 20 for much of the session before scraping into the 10 inside the final minute.

An early spin from James Moffat at Turn 11 was the only notable incident during the session.

Kelly Racing’s guest driver Jacques Villeneuve had a quiet session, setting his best time of the weekend so far to qualify 2.2s from the pace.

The Top 10 Shootout will kick-off at 1310 local time.

Listen below to Mark Winterbottom’s thoughts after the session



See below for the full qualifying result

1 Orrcon Steel FPR Ford Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon FG 1:12.2553 2 The Bottle-O Racing Team David Reynolds Ford Falcon FG 1:12.5246 0:00.2693 3 TeamVodafone Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore VE2 1:12.5474 0:00.2921 4 VIP Petfoods Steve Owen Ford Falcon FG 1:12.5713 0:00.3160 5 Trading Post FPR Ford Will Davison Ford Falcon FG 1:12.5954 0:00.3401 6 TeamVodafone Craig Lowndes Holden Commodore VE2 1:12.6059 0:00.3506 7 Team Hiflex Tony D’Alberto Ford Falcon FG 1:12.6508 0:00.3955 8 Jim Beam Racing Steven Johnson Ford Falcon FG 1:12.6941 0:00.4388 9 Team Norton DJR James Moffat Ford Falcon FG 1:12.7594 0:00.5041 10 Holden Racing Team Garth Tander Holden Commodore VE2 1:12.7667 0:00.5114 11 Tekno Autosports Michael Patrizi Holden Commodore VE2 1:12.7790 0:00.5237 12 SP Tools Racing Shane Van Gisbergen Ford Falcon FG 1:12.8239 0:00.5686 13 Lockwood Racing Fabian Coulthard Holden Commodore VE2 1:12.8660 0:00.6107 14 Irwin Racing Lee Holdsworth Ford Falcon FG 1:12.8776 0:00.6223 15 Jack Daniel’s Racing Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VE2 1:12.8989 0:00.6436 16 Supercheap Auto Racing Russell Ingall Holden Commodore VE2 1:12.9457 0:00.6904 17 Tekno Autosports Jonathon Webb Holden Commodore VE2 1:12.9984 0:00.7431 18 Lucky 7 Racing Tim Slade Ford Falcon FG 1:13.0257 0:00.7704 19 Fujitsu Racing GRM Michael Caruso Holden Commodore VE2 1:13.0403 0:00.7850 20 Jack Daniel’s Racing Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VE2 1:13.1039 0:00.8486 21 Jim Beam Racing Dean Fiore Ford Falcon FG 1:13.1679 0:00.9126 22 Team BOC Jason Bright Holden Commodore VE2 1:13.1710 0:00.9157 23 Holden Racing Team James Courtney Holden Commodore VE2 1:13.1726 0:00.9173 24 Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Karl Reindler Holden Commodore VE2 1:13.1764 0:00.9211 25 Team iSelect Taz Douglas Holden Commodore VE2 1:13.3200 0:01.0647 26 Fujitsu Racing GRM Alexandre Premat Holden Commodore VE2 1:13.3873 0:01.1320 27 Wilson Security Racing David Wall Holden Commodore VE2 1:13.6520 0:01.3967 28 Pepsi Max Crew Jacques Villeneuve Holden Commodore VE2 1:14.4131 0:02.1578

See below for Speedcafe.com’s Sucrogen Townsville 400 Race Guide

See below for Speedcafe.com’s Race Guide for the British Grand Prix, which is also taking place this weekend