8 Oct 2011

Murph takes pole at Bathurst

7:27 pm on 8 October 2011

The New Zealand veteran racing driver Greg Murphy has won the Top 10 Shootout to take pole position for Sunday's Bathurst 1000.

Murphy, a four-time Bathurst winner, clocked the fastest time in the race for grid places in his Holden, just ahead of Ford's Will Davison and Craig Lowndes in another Holden.

Murphy's compatriot Shane van Gisbergen was fifth fastest while yesterday's top qualifier Garth Tander could only manage ninth spot on the grid and the defending champion and championship leader Jamie Whincup wasn't much quicker in eighth place.

Mark Winterbottom was last.

Rain again played havoc at Mount Panorama with drivers left frustrated after their final practice run was curtailed, but the omens were there with the Danish team-mate of Murphy, Allan Simonsen, topping the timesheets with a best lap of two minutes and almost 20 seconds at the 6.2 kilometre circuit.

The race runs over 1,000 kilometres with teams of two drivers.