KEY POINTS:
Kiwi driver Steven Richards will start this afternoon's V8 Supercars Hamilton 400 race from pole position.
Ford Performance Racing team driver Richards is ecstatic after finishing qualifying in first place with an ultra-quick 1:24.7270.
Two other New Zealanders are in the top ten, with Greg Murphy starting from 7th and Fabian Coulthard in 10th.
Luck wasn't on championship leader Jamie Whincup's side, with a massive crash in during qualifying spelling then end of his weekend.
"The weekend's over," team boss Roland Dane told AAP.
"The back has been crushed in. All the rails are destroyed, the bars destroyed, the rear is damaged and the roll cage. It's unusable."
The session was stopped after Triple Eight Racing Vodafone Falcon was clipped by Jack Daniels driver Todd Kelly's Commodore.
A touch on the rear corner of the car when Kelly came off the ripple strip after running off track sent Whincup into the unforgiving concrete barrier.
Both ends of the Falcon were severely damaged after the huge 130km/h hit, which even smashed the rear screen.
Teammate Craig Lowndes, who has qualified in 21st place, said the car suffered more damage than his did in a huge crash with James Courtney in the Adelaide Clipsal 500 street race.
Greg Murphy had a stint as fastest during the qualifying session, after laying down a sizzling 1:25.1101 lap.
But it wasn't long until the 620hp Supercars dipped into the 1:24s.
The top 10 for the race are Steven Richards followed by Garth Tander, Rick Kelly, James Courtney, Lee Holdsworth, Cameron McConville, Greg Murphy, Michael Caruso, Mark Skaife and Fabian Coulthard rounding out the top 10.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
