Lowndes penalty hands Bright pole

Craig Lowndes proved quickest in the Top 10 Shootout, but a grid penalty ensures second-fastest man Jason Bright will start Race 22 from pole.

Bright was the second out in the single-lap session and ran an imposing 1:13.18s.

The next seven drivers all fell short of the Team BOC Holden’s time, with ninth man out, Jamie Whincup, coming closest, just 0.005s adrift.

Lowndes then recorded a 1:13.098s to top the session but will start third due to a two-place grid penalty for contact with Garth Tander on the opening lap of Saturday’s Race 20.

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Bright and Whincup will therefore share the front-row ahead of Lowndes, Scott McLaughlin, Garth Tander, James Courtney, Shane van Gisbergen, Nick Percat, Will Davison and Chaz Mostert.

Davison will start 11th, behind Mostert and Tim Slade, after receiving his own penalty from Race 20.

Although happy with his lap, Lowndes admitted to being frustrated at missing out on starting from the front-row.

“We really let ourselves down yesterday (and) knowing that where ever you finish (in the Shootout) you start two spots back, that was frustrating,” he said.

“But with a 250km race it’s going to be a long afternoon. We’ve just got to stay out of trouble, get some clean air and just run our own race.”

Bright added that he wasn’t surprised to move up the order following a difficult qualifying session earlier in the day.

“We had used tyres for qualifying because we had a few problems with the throttle sensor,” said Bright afterward.

“We sort of scraped into the Top 10, so I knew we’d move up, but to get that close (to the quickest lap) was pretty good.

“If you do the crime you do the time with Lowndesy and we managed to get pole.”

See below for full shootout results head of the penalties being applied to Craig Lowndes and Will Davison

1	Red Bull Racing Australia	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.0978
2	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.1829	0:00.0851
3	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.1834	0:00.0856
4	Valvoline Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60	1:13.3121	0:00.2143
5	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.4602	0:00.3624
6	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.4930	0:00.3952
7	Team Tekno VIP Petfoods	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.6062	0:00.5084
8	Walkinshaw Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.6168	0:00.5190
9	Erebus Motorsport V8	Will Davison	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:13.6528	0:00.5550
10	Ford Pepsi Max Crew	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG	1:13.9518	0:00.8540