Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup has taken pole position for the first race of the ITM 400 on the streets of Hamilton in New Zealand.

Whincup went fastest in the shootout having topped the times for most of the qualifying session beforehand, before dropping to fourth in the closing minutes, but a clean lap in the shootout put him back on top.

Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander will start alongside him on the front row, Tander having been fastest in the qualifying session before the shootout.

Michael Carsuo was third fastest, closely followed by Craig Lowndes, Steven Johnson, Fabian Coulthard and Rick Kelly, all covered by just over a tenth of a second, Lowndes doing well to jump six places having to deal with a slightly damp track going out first in the shootout.

After a remarkable effort in qualifying, which saw him top the times with just over two minutes remaining, Tony D'Alberto will still be happy qualifying eighth despite dropping five places in the shootout, James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom completing the top 10, Courtney dropping seven places after a lock-up early in his lap.

A late run jumped Steven Richards up from the back of the grid to 16th, while a heavy hit saw Will Davison's session come to an early end, and he'll start 24th, three places behind local driver Shane van Gisbergen who never found the speed in qualifying that he had in practice.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Time
 1.  Jamie Whincup         Holden Commodore VE   1m23.2690s
 2.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   1m23.4213s  +0.1523s
 3.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   1m23.5445s  +0.2755s
 4.  Craig Lowndes         Holden Commodore VE   1m23.5799s  +0.3109s
 5.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        1m23.6354s  +0.3664s
 6.  Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VE   1m23.6586s  +0.3896s
 7.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   1m23.6760s  +0.4070s
 8.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   1m23.8081s  +0.5391s
 9.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        1m23.9163s  +0.6473s
10.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        1m23.9946s  +0.7256s
11.  Jonathon Webb         Ford Falcon FG        1m23.6329s  +0.3639s
12.  Paul Dumbrell         Ford Falcon FG        1m23.6862s  +0.4172s
13.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE   1m23.7699s  +0.5009s
14.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   1m23.8011s  +0.5321s
15.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   1m23.8467s  +0.5777s
16.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        1m23.9119s  +0.6429s
17.  Andrew Thompson       Holden Commodore VE   1m23.9538s  +0.6848s
18.  Jason Bright          Holden Commodore VE   1m23.9739s  +0.7049s
19.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   1m24.0221s  +0.7531s
20.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   1m24.0288s  +0.7598s
21.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        1m24.0839s  +0.8149s
22.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE   1m24.0892s  +0.8202s
23.  Dean Fiore            Ford Falcon FG        1m24.1773s  +0.9083s
24.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE   1m24.1897s  +0.9207s
25.  Tim Slade             Ford Falcon FG        1m24.2932s  +1.0242s
26.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        1m24.3191s  +1.0501s
27.  Daniel Gaunt          Holden Commodore VE   1m24.9678s  +1.6988s
28.  Karl Reindler         Holden Commodore VE   1m25.1224s  +1.8534s
29.  Tony Ricciardello     Holden Commodore VE   1m25.8922s  +2.6232s