Lowndes on track for Ipswich clean sweep

Craig Lowndes is on track to clean sweep the Coates Hire Ipswich 300 event after taking pole position for Race 18.

The TeamVodafone driver, who topped Friday practice, yesterday’s qualifying session and both races, will start alongside team-mate Jamie Whincup.

Unlike yesterday, Lowndes did not set the immediate benchmark in the 20 minute session, but was one of the first cars on track for his second run, putting himself at the top of the table with a 1:09.73s effort.

The five-time Bathurst winner improved during his third and final run, clocking 1:09.57s with less than two minutes remaining.

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Whincup fell just 0.15s short of his team-mate’s time moments later, while Tim Slade also improved in the final seconds to take third.

Jason Bright was one of the first to set off for his last effort and ended up fourth, while Shane van Gisbergen had set the early pace but could do no better than fifth.

David Reynolds, Steven Johnson, Fabian Coulthard, Russell Ingall, and Will Davison rounded out the top 10.

It was another tough session for Ford and Holden’s factory entries, with Garth Tander 19th, Mark Winterbottom 20th and James Courtney 22nd.

The entire field was separated by less than one second.

Race 18 will get underway at 3:05pm local time.

See below for the full result

1	TeamVodafone	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VE2	1:09.5725
2	TeamVodafone	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VE2	1:09.7248	0:00.1523
3	Lucky 7 Racing	Tim Slade	Ford Falcon FG	1:09.7612	0:00.1887
4	Team Boc	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VE2	1:09.8593	0:00.2868
5	SP Tools Racing	Shane Van Gisbergen	Ford Falcon FG	1:09.8689	0:00.2964
6	Stratco Racing	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VE2	1:09.9302	0:00.3577
7	Jim Beam Racing	Steven Johnson	Ford Falcon FG	1:09.9486	0:00.3761
8	Bundaberg Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.0030	0:00.4305
9	Supercheap Auto Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.0108	0:00.4383
10	Trading Post FPR	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG	1:10.0328	0:00.4603
11	Jim Beam Racing	James Moffat	Ford Falcon FG	1:10.0732	0:00.5007
12	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Rick Kelly	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.1047	0:00.5322
13	Mother Energy Racing	Jonathon Webb	Ford Falcon FG	1:10.1287	0:00.5562
14	VIP Petfoods	Steve Owen	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.1638	0:00.5913
15	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Michael Caruso	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.1831	0:00.6106
16	Irwin Racing	Alex Davison	Ford Falcon FG	1:10.1894	0:00.6169
17	Jana Living Racing	Jason Bargwanna	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.2325	0:00.6600
18	Triple F Racing	Dean Fiore	Ford Falcon FG	1:10.2648	0:00.6923
19	Toll Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.2726	0:00.7001
20	Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG	1:10.2986	0:00.7261
21	Pepsi Max Crew	Greg Murphy	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.3013	0:00.7288
22	Toll Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.3481	0:00.7756
23	Wilson Security Racing	Tony D’Alberto	Ford Falcon FG	1:10.3520	0:00.7795
24	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.3552	0:00.7827
25	The Bottle-O Racing	Paul Dumbrell	Ford Falcon FG	1:10.4006	0:00.8281
26	Fair Dinkum Sheds	Karl Reindler	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.4099	0:00.8374
27	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Todd Kelly	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.4197	0:00.8472
28	Gulf Western Oil Racing	Warren Luff	Holden Commodore VE2	1:10.4985	0:00.9260