Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom has taken pole position for the first race of the Skycity Triple Crown at Hidden Valley.

Winterbottom was fifth fastest in the qualifying session but set the fastest lap of the weekend to take pole position in the shootout. Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup was second fastest after topping yesterday's practice.

A stunning performance from Wilson Security Racing's Tim Slade will see him start third, his best-ever starting position in V8 Supercar racing, never having started in the top 10 before. Alongside him will be Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander, with both Slade and Tander gaining four places in the shootout.

Todd Kelly was fifth ahead of series leader James Courtney, who dropped three places in the shootout. However, he didn't suffer the biggest fall, with Craig Lowndes dropping six places from fourth to ninth while Jason Richards went from fastest to slowest, dropping from first to 10th.

Another impressive performance by Dean Fiore sees him line up 14th, just two places behind HRT's Will Davison.

However, 21st for Rick Kelly must be a disappointment with brother Todd starting fifth, while FPR's Steven Richards will start 26th, and his teammate will start from pole position.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Time
 1.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        1m09.6854s
 2.  Jamie Whincup         Holden Commodore VE   1m09.8333s  +0.1479s
 3.  Tim Slade             Ford Falcon FG        1m09.8836s  +0.1982s
 4.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   1m09.9374s  +0.2520s
 5.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   1m10.0184s  +0.3330s
 6.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        1m10.2081s  +0.5227s
 7.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        1m10.3361s  +0.6507s
 8.  Paul Dumbrell         Ford Falcon FG        1m10.3565s  +0.6711s
 9.  Craig Lowndes         Holden Commodore VE   1m10.4351s  +0.7497s
10.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   1m10.5488s  +0.8634s
11.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   1m10.2032s  +0.5178s
12.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE   1m10.2372s  +0.5518s
13.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE   1m10.2550s  +0.5696s
14.  Dean Fiore            Ford Falcon FG        1m10.2899s  +0.6045s
15.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        1m10.2992s  +0.6138s
16.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   1m10.3499s  +0.6645s
17.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   1m10.3738s  +0.6884s
18.  Jason Bright          Holden Commodore VE   1m10.3958s  +0.7104s
19.  Andrew Thompson       Holden Commodore VE   1m10.4230s  +0.7376s
20.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   1m10.4347s  +0.7493s
21.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   1m10.4616s  +0.7762s
22.  Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VE   1m10.4677s  +0.7823s
23.  Jonathon Webb         Ford Falcon FG        1m10.4678s  +0.7824s
24.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE   1m10.5073s  +0.8219s
25.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        1m10.5780s  +0.8926s
26.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        1m10.5903s  +0.9049s
27.  Karl Reindler         Holden Commodore VE   1m10.6732s  +0.9878s
28.  Tony Ricciardello     Holden Commodore VE   1m10.9525s  +1.2671s
29.  Daniel Gaunt          Holden Commodore VE   1m11.2240s  +1.5386s