Will Davison was fastest in V8 Supercars practice in Perth on Friday but was quick to play down the significance of the result.
The Ford driver, who leads the championship after three rounds, clocked a lap time of 56.22sec in the third and final practice session around the 2.42km Barbagallo circuit.
Davison topped the timesheets ahead of Holden rival Jamie Whincup just 0.03sec behind while New Zealander Fabian Coulthard was third quickest.
While pleasantly surprised, Davison wasn’t getting ahead of himself given the issue of tyre degradation the 28-driver field will face around the notoriously abrasive track on the northern outskirts of the city.
“One lap is very nearly irrelevant for this weekend,” said Davison, who added his time was about a second slower than what achieved pole position last year.
“The race car and the balance over the distance is going to be pretty entertaining.
“(We’ll be) just trying to make the car as kind on the tyres – the usual story. The car is going to be a handful after quite a few laps.”
Davison’s fellow Ford Performance Racing pilot Mark Winterbottom was fourth fastest as the team aim to repeat their feats of last year at the track when they won all three races.
The impending clash between Whincup and Winterbottom has been hyped up this week after a number of bumps and sideswipes at the previous event in Auckland last month sparked a war of words.
With the highly-regarded Winterbottom languishing in the unfamiliar position of 11th in the championship, Davison said his team were confident of not being swamped by the nine Holden Commodore VF drivers separating them in the series standings.
“At times I’ve been quick, sometimes he (Winterbottom) has been quick,” he said.
“We’re definitely moving in the right direction and today proves that.”
Holden trio Craig Lowndes, Scott Pye and James Courtney followed Winterbottom while David Reynolds was eighth ahead of fellow Ford pilot Chaz Mostert on debut in the category.
Western Australian race fans will be hoping for improvement from Kalgoorlie-born Dean Fiore (10th) and especially Perth-born veteran Garth Tander, who was a disappointing 16th.
Holden Racing Team’s Tander is starting in his 200th Australian Touring Car-V8 Supercars event at his home meet.
Tim Slade (11th) was the best-placed Mercedes driver while Rick Kelly (18th) was the fastest of the Nissan Altima quartet.
There will be one more practice session on Saturday morning before qualifying and the first of three races over the weekend – a 120km battle using an experimental format.
First used in Tasmania earlier this year, the 60/60 sprint series includes a 15-minute “halftime break” and a rolling double-file start for the second part of the race.
Two races over 100km will be held on Sunday.
