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Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup need to make history. Garth Tander and Will Davison need to break history. If either duo can do it, they will win the Bathurst 1000 after V8 Supercar racing’s two leading teams claimed the front row of the grid to set up an intriguing 161-lap race around Mt Panorama on Sunday.
Tander and Davison’s Holden needs to break a six-year pole position hoodoo at Bathurst after Tander secured his second consecutive pole at Mt Panorama during Saturday’s top 10 shootout.
No driver has managed to win from pole since Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly in 2003.
History also looms large for Ford’s Lowndes and Whincup, who qualified second fastest behind Tander.
They are gunning for an unprecedented fourth successive Bathurst win.
Not even the great Peter Brock managed that feat – mechanical failure ruining his opportunities to extend a three-peat into total domination.
Tander uncorked a slick two minute 7.9463 second lap on a drying track during the shootout for pole – hopes of breaking Greg Murphy’s long-standing lap record in qualifying vanishing with rain in the hour prior to the session.
The 32-year-old overcame a scary brake lock-up late in the lap which saw his Holden Racing Team Commodore momentarily rise on to two wheels to edge out Team Vodafone’s Lowndes (2:08.2231).
Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom, who was fined $5,000 for a careless driving incident during morning practice which destroyed a rival’s Holden, will start from third on the grid with teammate Steven Richards.
Tander will hand over to Davison to start the race, hoping that may also give him a change of luck after a disappointing run from pole last year.
Tander is attempting to add to his only Bathurst win in 2000.
“It’s a tough lap to do and I’m glad it’s over and done with and we can get on with tomorrow,” Tander said.
“Will’s going to start tomorrow so I don’t have to worry about any demons from last year.
“(Pole) doesn’t really mean a lot – it’s 161 laps. There’s a lot of race ahead of us.”
Lowndes said the burden of history was not weighing on him and Whincup as they attempt to become the modern-day kings of the mountain.
“Obviously everyone talks about it and the team’s well aware of what we can create,” Lowndes said.
“But it’s a matter of Jamie and I being comfortable with the car, everyone in the team doing their job and seeing where we can get to tomorrow.
“It’s a long day and if we do win it, we’re going to re-create history, but we’ve got to stay out of trouble and go through the same process we have for the past three years.”
Winterbottom’s difficult weekend bottomed out when the stewards hammered him in the hip pocket – his $5,000 penalty backed up with a $10,000 suspended fine which will hang over his head for the rest of the season.
The Ford driver was weaving at slow speed to put heat in his tyres, directly in front of rookie driver Sam Walter’s Commodore.
Walter was forced to take evasive action, badly damaging his car in a wall and breaking his toe.
It was the third time Winterbottom has been involved in similar controversy at Bathurst, with Holden rivals Rick Kelly and Tander believing they were blocked by his car as they attempted to do quick laps on Thursday and Friday.
Meanwhile, a huge crash marred the V8 Ute support race.
West Australian driver Allan Letcher rolled his vehicle several times in a three-car tangle, but escaped without serious injury.
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