Jack Daniel's Racing driver Rick Kelly has scored the first pole position for he and brother Todd's Kelly Racing operation for the 12th race of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series at Winton Motor Raceway today.

Kelly put his #15 Jack Daniel's Racing on the top of the timesheets halfway through this morning's 20 minute qualifying session, bettering his time with a new qualifying lap record to cement his first pole position since 2007.

RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:

"It's our first pole position for Kelly Racing and it's pretty exciting for us," said Rick Kelly.

"I did a lap on the first set of tyres and made a mistake and it cost us a couple of tenths but we were still P1 at that point.

"I was disappointed with myself and still very angry from yesterday's result.

"We used that to get a good result today. I didn't expect pole but we will take it.

"We are very grateful for getting this and excited.

"On Friday our Jack Daniel's Commodore was very good. We made a couple of changes in the wrong direction for Saturday and it snow balled I guess and we had a very bad race. It was the worst race we've had all year by far.

"We needed to turn that around so it's exciting that we've been able to do that as a team.

"Generally once you start a weekend off badly you tend to stay there, so it's good to be able to turn that around but 67 laps around here is a long race so we will see how we go."

RICK KELLY POLE STATISTICS:

FIFTH Career Pole Position for Rick Kelly

FIRST Pole Position for Rick Kelly at Winton Motor Raceway

FIRST Pole Position for Kelly Racing (team established March 2009)

Rick Kelly's last Pole Position came at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in the final event of the 2007 season.

Today's lap by Rick is a new V8 Supercar qualifying record for Winton Motor Raceway.

 

RESULTS: Qualifying
1. #15 Rick Kelly 1:21.8497
2. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:21.8906
3. #55 Paul Dumbrell 1:22.0181
4. #888 Craig Lowndes 1:22.0900
5. #5 Mark Winterbottom 1:22.1160
6. #18 James Courtney 1:22.1224
7. #2 Garth Tander 1:22.1296
8. #34 Michael Caruso 1:22.1834
9. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1:22.1989
10. #6 Steven Richards 1:22.2176
25. #11 Jason Bargwanna 1:22.6844
26. #7 Todd Kelly 1:22.7260
29. #16 Tony Ricciardello 1:23.4861

WINTON MOTOR RACEWAY DETAILS:
Circuit: Winton Motor Raceway
Location: Benalla, Victoria
Circuit Length: 3.00 kilometres
Average Speed: 131 km/h
Maximum Speed: 225 km/h
Format: 120km race Saturday and 200km race Sunday
2009 Attendance: 61,882 (three days)
2009 Saturday Pole Position: Mark Winterbottom
2009 Saturday Race Winner: Craig Lowndes
2009 Sunday Pole Position: Jamie Whincup
2009 Sunday Race Winner: Craig Lowndes

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Times below are Australian Eastern Standard Time (GMT + 10 hours)

Sunday 16 May 2010
10:15am –10:35am: Qualifying
1:05pm: Race 2 (Series Race 12) – 67 laps

AUS TELEVISION SCHEDULE – SEVEN NETWORK
Times subject to amendment – please check local guides

Sunday 16 May 2010
12:00pm – 3:00pm in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth (V8 Supercars Race 2)
12:00pm – 1:00pm and 3:45pm – 5:30pm in Sydney and Brisbane (V8 Supercars Race 2)

Tuesday 18 May 2010 (Replay on Fox Sports 3)
6:30pm – 9:00pm (V8 Supercars Race 11 and 12 Highlights)

Saturday 22 May 2010
1:30pm – 2:30pm (Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series)