Inspired by the greatest-ever lap by a V8 Supercar around Mount Panorama, Shane van Gisbergen laid down a memorable one of his own to claim his first pole position at a Bathurst 1000.

Before jumping behind the wheel of his Holden for Saturday’s reduced field top-nine shootout, the Kiwi watched countryman Greg Murphy’s famous Lap of the Gods from 2003.

“And I got a little pumped up,” he said.

Van Gisbergen’s time of two minutes, 6.3267 seconds was more than half-a-second quicker than Murphy’s and enough to get him on the front row for Sunday’s race.

“It’s something you dream about,” he added.

Unlike Murphy, though, he didn’t blitz the field by a second – just a third of one in front of Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom.

The defending champion, who won last year’s race from second, might have been on pole if he hadn’t nearly lost control while laying down his hot lap.

“I was sh***** myself,” Winterbottom laughed.

“But it’s always good to be on the front row at Bathurst.

“FPR’s got an incredible record here … and we’ll race hard tomorrow.”

Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin will start the Great Race from third, alongside Jason Bright of Holden in fourth.

Much of the drama happened before the late-afternoon shootout, with Garth Tander and Warren Luff forced to withdraw their Holden Racing Team entry.

Luff was involved in a spectacular crash after his brakes failed during practice earlier on Saturday morning, causing significant damage to the No.2 Commodore’s roll cage – too much to repair in time for the 1000km classic.

Five-time Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes was caught up in the incident, but his team at Red Bull Racing managed to repair the Holden in time for the shootout and qualify sixth.

Championship leader Jamie Whincup and last year’s polesitter missed the session after crashing during qualifying on Friday and will start the Great Race in 24th.

He will be joined at the back by two of FPR’s fastest men – David Reynolds in 25th and Chaz Mostert in 26th.

Reynolds was forced out of Friday’s session early after a heavy shunt into a concrete barrier, while Mostert was excluded for passing a car under red flags.

There have been only three winners from pole position in the past 15 years.

Drivers will get a 20-minute warm-up session at 7.50am (AEDT) on Sunday, before the 1000km classic begins at 10.30am.