Motorsport: Tander claims pole on drying track

Garth Tander is on the front row for today's Bathurst 1000. Photo / Getty Images

The Top 10 Shootout for the Bathurst 1000 took place on a damp Mount Panorama circuit and HRT driver Garth Tander mastered the drying conditions best to put his Holden on pole for today's race.

At times his lap looked a little ragged but Tander kept it together to make it home.

"The split time I had coming out of Forrest Elbow wasn't as strong as I would have liked so I went into The Chase a little deep," said Tander. "The right front grabbed a bit but I managed to pull up in time. It was a little messy through the apex but the run down to last corner was all right.

"The lap was hairy in places where I knew I could push on without consequence but I was pretty safe over the top."

Tander also had his car in the No 1 spot the same time last year, only for it to go horribly wrong when he stalled as the flag dropped.

"Will [Davison, his co-driver] is going to start tomorrow so I don't have to worry about what happened last year."

Defending three-time champions Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup are alongside Tander and Davison on the front row, making it a Holden-Ford drag race to the first corner. If the TeamVodafone pairing of Lowndes and Whincup can manage to win for a fourth straight time, it'll be the first time in the race's near half century of competition such a feat has been achieved.

"As the track dried out, we grew in confidence and put in a good clean lap," said Lowndes.

"Neither of us is thinking about being the first to win four in a row. All we're worrying about is the next 161 laps."

The best of the Kiwi drivers was Steve Richards, paired with Mark Winterbottom in the FPR entry. Staying just outside the three quickest cars for most of the weekend, Winterbottom snatched the third-fastest time to start on the second row.

"Our expectation was to be on the front two rows and that turned out to be the case," said Richards. "We wanted to make sure we have a car that'll race better than previously. We're all feeling pretty happy and quietly confident."

Fellow Kiwi Jason Richards, who had been fast over the three days and was on provisional pole, couldn't string it together when it counted and dropped to fifth to start on the third row of the grid.

Of the two other Kiwis in the field, Shane Van Gisbergen will start on the third row next to Jason Richards and Greg Murphy will start in 10th.

Today's Great Race roars into action at 12.30pm.