V8 Supercars championship leader Jamie Whincup has snatched pole position for Saturday’s race at Sydney Motorsport Park.

The Holden driver was sitting outside the top 10 in the final seconds of the 20-minute qualifying session but pulled out a one minute and 29.6353 second lap on his last pass to snare pole.

Holden’s Jonathon Webb had looked set for a career-first V8 Supercar pole thanks to his 1:29.6542 lap but will start from second after Whincup’s late heroics.

Ford driver Will Davison is third on the grid after a 1:29.6894 while championship rivals Mark Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes will start from fifth and sixth respectively.

Saturday’s race will be Whincup’s 12th start at Eastern Creek, a track where he is yet to win in his illustrious V8 Supercar career.

The TeamVodafone ace goes into Saturday’s race with an 82-point lead over Winterbottom in the championship standings.

Saturday’s 140km race begins at 4.05pm.