Michael Caruso has secured his first V8 Supercars pole position, as well as clinching Nissan’s first start from p1 on the grid in the category.

After showing pace in practice earlier today, Caruso rung a 1min55.8313 lap out of his newly-coloured Altima, and was unchallenged, the only driver to record a time in the ‘55’ second bracket at the MSS Security V8 Supercars Challenge.

“I’ve got to admit it’s pretty unexpected, we had pretty good pace in practice,” Caruso, who is running #300 this weekend, said.

“This is my very first pole position so everyone’s very happy. Very proud.”

The Kiwis stormed home behind, with Shane van Gisbergen to start alongside on the front row, and Scott McLaughlin behind in his Volvo. Jamie Whincup will also start on the second row.

It was a strong result for Nissan, with three of the four in the top 10 – Todd Kelly fifth and James Moffat eighth. Former Champion Rick Kelly was back in 14th.

Craig Lowndes, last year’s event winner Fabian Coulthard, Moffat, Jason Bright in a newly built Commodore, and Garth Tander, complete the top 10.

Others to note include rookie Robert Dahlgren 11th in his Volvo S60, Chaz Mostert the first Ford in 12th, Will Davison in his Erebus AMG 13, Mark Winterbottom 18, and Clipsal 500 winner James Courtney 21st.

Click here for full results.

Race One will begin at 11.05am tomorrow.

After that, accumulated points will determine the grid for the following three races.