Winterbottom fastest in Konica qualifier.

Stone Brothers Racing's Mark Winterbottom qualified fastest for the non-championship Konica V8 Supercar support race held at the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 event at Bathurst.

Winterbottom finished qualifying with an impressive lap time of 2min 08.9237secs, which would have placed him less than one second behind Kmart Racing's Greg
Murphy in the main Bathurst 1000 qualifier. Despite qualifying only 18th in the V8 Supercar Championship Series session earlier in the day, Winterbottom showed he had what it takes pushing his AU Falcon to a faster time than the BA he drove earlier.

"Every time I have gone out this week, I have learnt something new about this place," the new Konica V8 champion said, "Every session I have gone quicker and, hopefully, we can go well in the 1000 kilometre race on Sunday. That's why we are using the Konica race this weekend - to get more experience and familiarise ourselves
with the circuit and hopefully come out of it with a good result."

Dick Johnson Racing's Warren Luff finished qualifying in second position, followed by Owen Kelly who made his debut this weekend driving for Paul Cruikshank Racing in the #22 car sporting Astron Technology sponsorship.

"We had a few problems at the start of the qualifying session when we blew a power steering line," Luff said, "I got close to the wall and realised we had some sort of problem and brought the car in. The car is feeling good now and we really looking forward to the race tomorrow."

Gulf Western Oil's Matthew White was fourth fastest and Paul Cruikshank Racing's Kevin Mundy rounded out the top five, topping a successful day for PCR with two drivers in the top five for tomorrow's 25-lap Konica V8 Supercar Challenge race.

Luff repeated the form that saw him finish fourth in his debut appearance in the Konica V8 Supercar Series at the sixth and final round at Mallala Motorsport Park, finishing the first practice session yesterday with the fastest lap time of 2min 13.3054secs, ahead of Kelly.

Luff headed the time sheet again in the second practice session earlier today, until Winterbottom clocked the fastest lap time of 2min 11.1525secs - only .0306secs ahead of Luff.

The top four fastest Konica V8 Supercar Series drivers will also be competing in the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 race on Sunday, having all secured co-driver positions with V8 Supercar Championship teams.

Kelly, who has secured a drive in the Ford Performance Racing car with David Besnard, had a successful start in the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 second practice yesterday when Besnard finished the session with the second fastest lap time of the day behind Kmart Racing's Murphy and Rick Kelly.