Ford Performance Racing's Will Davison completed a Sydney pole double in qualifying for the final race of the V8 Supercars season, but the main focus was on the battle between title rivals and Triple Eight Holden teammates Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.
Going into the final few minutes, Lowndes – winner of race one yesterday – sat on provisional pole, while Whincup was right back in 23rd, having spun on one of the few laps not interrupted by red flags. But once the session got going at last in the final minutes, Lowndes was pushed back as Davison and Mark Winterbottom temporarily made it an FPR one-two.
Whincup was pushing hard to bring himself back into contention, and moved up to ninth with his first effort. But an even better second lap then saw him jump to second between the FPR duo, while Lowndes had to be content with fourth.
Paul Dumbrell claimed fifth on the grid for his final start in the series, sharing row three with outgoing champion James Courtney.
Greg Murphy, Garth Tander and Michael Caruso all had accidents that caused red flags, while Dean Fiore was sidelined for most of the session after a wayward flight over the Turn 6/7 chicane curbs damaged his Triple F Ford.