R12 QUAL - Lowndes snatches pole at wet Sandown
7/10/2000 17:51 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) - Craig Lowndes snatched his fifth pole position of the year in a last-gasp flier in qualifying for this weekend’s penultimate Shell Series encounter at Sandown Park Raceway.
Lowndes negotiated the wet conditions and extreme traffic (all 32 cars qualified together due to the inclement weather) the best, stopping the clocks at 1:12.48 minutes in the dying moments of the 55-minute session to grab pole.
"All in all, that was pretty successful," Craig Lowndes said. "You can't really take too much out of that though as it was wet, there was a lot of traffic out there.”
“It will be important to get a good start tomorrow and teams with extra horsepower could climb up the order at this track with its two long straights," he said.
Lowndes edged-out Paul Radisich for the top spot. He’ll start alongside Lowndes on the front row.
With Ford still to win a round in season 2000, “the Rat” realises the urgency.
"We all want to win, perhaps it is more important to us Ford guys," Radisich said. "Time is running out with just this weekend and Bathurst left, so I will be gunning for it from the word go tomorrow.”
“I have a really good opportunity from where I am. If I make a clean start I will be in a great position for the win," he said.
The stand-out performer of the session was clearly young Queenslander Steven Ellery, who held pole position when the chequered flag came out only to be denied the honour after Lowndes and Radisich passed the post.
Nonetheless, Ellery held on for third fastest – his equal-best qualifying performance – and is in as good a position as any Ford campaigner to claim their first round win of the season.
"We are very satisfied with third after what has been a pretty tough year for us," Ellery said.
"We have worked hard on the car and the last couple of months, things have been improving and now it looks like it is all coming together for Bathurst," he enthused.
Ellery will share the second row of the grid with fellow Queensland Ford campaigner, Tony Longhurst.
"It was a really tough session and it would have been really exciting to watch with the times constantly coming down. I really enjoyed it, it was fun," SBR’s Longhurst said.
Championship leader Mark Skaife found himself in fifth after the difficult session, but is not concerned.
"I would have liked to qualify higher than that but it was hard not to get caught up in traffic out there, and no one wanted to get off the dry racing line to let you pass,” Skaife explained.
“I hit Russell Ingall when he decided to take up a bit of the road that I needed.”
“Tomorrow, I will make the best start I can make and go for it. There's no point in being too conservative, but I always try to stay out of strife," he said.
Russell Ingall finished one place behind in sixth, while Skaife’s main title challenger, Garth Tander, will start Race 1 tomorrow in eighth.
Weather forecasters predict mostly fine conditions tomorrow, although brief showers are expected.
Race 1 gets the green light at 11:30am Melbourne time. Full coverage on Network Ten at 3pm.
**TOP TEN**
1st CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1:12.489min]
2nd PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1:12.503]
3rd STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon [1:12.579]
4th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [1:12.658]
5th MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1:12.738]
6th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [1:12.810]
7th MARK LARKHAM (Mitre 10 Racing) - AU Falcon [1:12.865]
8th GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [1:12.995]
9th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon [1:13.085]
10th JASON BARGWANNA (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [1:13.191]
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