Lowndes leads Ford charge in qualifying.

Craig Lowndes has qualified fourth for the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 at Bathurst, with the FPR man the top Ford driver on the provisional grid.

Lowndes enjoyed one of his best qualifying sessions of the year, as he was amongst the pacesetters throughout the 45-minute session.

He will again team up with Glenn Seton, who is making his 21st start at Mount Panorama. Seton is yet to win Australia's 'Great Race' and will aim to go one better than his second place last year.

"The car was good throughout the practice sessions and into qualifying," Lowndes said after the session. "The great thing is that there's still room for improvement and it'll be a very good car come race time.

"Our engine performance has improved and I'm sure we'll have a good reliable package. Inside the car both Glenn and I are very determined to get the job done. Glenn really deserves it and I'm keen to give him a 21st present he'll really enjoy.

"No one was talking about us before today, now it's nice to be considered amongst the teams to watch."

Russell Ingall's day ended on a high after a difficult morning for the Caltex Havoline Racing Falcon. Co-driver Cameron McLean was involved in a heavy accident in the morning's practice session that left all the panels back from the car's rear window needing to be replaced. Over three hours of non-stop work had the car ready for the qualifying session.

"I was more impressed with the work by the crew to get the car into the qualifying session than the time itself," said Ingall. "After seeing that effort I had to really repay them with a strong lap in qualifying. We gave it a quick check over after one lap in qualifying, then drove the doors off the thing.

"The car does need some changes, but we'll get that done before tomorrow's shootout and have it set for the race on Sunday. This place is such a challenge and to really drive the car fast around here is just awesome. It's so satisfying to put a good lap together against great
opposition.

"In terms of the pre-race dramas we've had, I'd rather have it today and not on Sunday! My confidence in Cameron has not changed. He's a good driver and he'll do a superb job for us on in the race."

Ford will have five cars in tomorrow's top-10 shootout, including Jason Bargwanna (Orrcon Steel Racing), John Bowe (OzEmail Racing) and V8 Supercar champion Marcos Ambrose (Pirtek Racing). Ambrose will be the first car on the track in the shootout.