Jamie Whincup is a proven record-breaker, but becoming the first V8 Supercar driver to win the Bathurst 1000 from the back of the grid might just be beyond his reach.
Holden's championship leader spectacularly crashed out of Friday's qualifying session, sliding into a concrete barrier near the top of the Mount Panorama circuit and causing significant damage to his Commodore.
"It was my fault, I've got to put my hand up," Whincup said.
"I made an error which I shouldn't have as a professional driver."
The four-time Bathurst winner admitted he pushed too hard on the newly-resurfaced road as he tried to chase down his much faster rivals.
Holden's Fabian Coulthard was the quickest of them, claiming provisional pole position with a new lap record of two minutes, 5.6080 seconds.
The time was more than a second clear of Greg Murphy's famous Lap of the Gods (2:06.8594), set during 2003's Top 10 shootout.
A flurry of fast laps from fellow Holden drivers Shane van Gisbergen and Dale Wood, and Ford's defending Bathurst champion Mark Winterbottom, relegated Whincup to 25th on the grid.
Ford Performance Racing's David Reynolds will start from 26th after suffering a heavy shunt earlier in qualifying.
The lowest starting position for a Bathurst winner is 19th - achieved by Peter Brock, David Parsons and Peter McLeod in 1987.
Whincup had been the clear favourite to take out Australia's Great Race following his Sandown 500 victory with co-driver Paul Dumbrell last month.
His campaign didn't get off to a great start, finishing 17th in practice on Thursday in a car his engineer labelled "almost undriveable".
But he bounced back in the final practice session before qualifying on Friday, clocking the third fastest time of the day.
"The car was miles better than it was (on Thursday) so it's good to know that at least we're actually in the game for race pace now," said Whincup, who's previously conquered the mountain four time.
"Unfortunately we are going to start the biggest race of the year second last but at least I'm injury free.
"It's been a pretty tough preparation so we've just got to regroup.
"We're not going to let this affect us; we're going to put our heads down, reset tonight and go again tomorrow."
Red Bull Racing teammate Craig Lowndes just scraped into the top 10, in what he described as the "toughest result" he's had to drive for in 20 years of competing at the 1000km classic.
Lowndes and Whincup's struggles have played into the hands of Winterbottom, who was fastest in the final practice session and fourth in qualifying.
Not only is his Bathurst crown on the line, but also his maiden V8 Supercars title.
The FPR star is 279 points behind Whincup and six away from Lowndes in the drivers' standings, with 300 points going to the winner of Sunday's race.
The top 10 grid positions will be decided from 5.10pm (AEDT) on Saturday.
TOP 10 SHOOTOUT CONTENDERS
Fabian Coulthard (Holden)
Shane van Gisbergen (Holden)
Dale Wood (Holden)
Mark Winterbottom (Ford)
Scott McLaughlin (Volvo)
Jason Bright (Holden)
Jack Perkins (Ford)
James Moffat (Nissan)
Garth Tander (Holden)
Craig Lowndes (Holden)
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