Motorsport: Holden reassert their dominance

Craig Lowndes driving the Team Vodafone Ford gets a bit of air out of a corner during practice at the Hamilton 400 V8 Supercars yesterday. Photo / Alan Gibson

Holden didn't take long yesterday to reassert their V8 Supercar dominance in New Zealand.

It quickly became apparent during practice for the Hamilton 400 that Ford will have to work hard to break the stranglehold Holden has on V8 racing here.

Holden driver Will Davison had the street circuit's number early.

His lap times were consistently under the existing lap record, set by Garth Tander last year at 1m 24.5s, and he finished the day fastest with a 1m 23.5s.

"The track's an improvement on last year but I'm still not convinced about the chicane," said Davison.

"Early on in the final session I thought I would struggle to make the top 10.

"Then the next minute I'm P1 and I think that's just the nature of the competitiveness of the category. I pretty happy with the session, it was a bit wild at one stage [Davison took to the air through the chicane] but we worked away with the car and found good speed."

At the end of the first practice session, it was Todd Kelly who was fastest after 50 minutes of track time. Hot on his heels was young Kiwi driver Shane Van Gisbergen, just seven one hundredths back with Davison just behind. Less than a second covered the 19 fastest drivers.

Jason Richards, the fastest of the Kiwis in a Holden, spent most the final practice session in 20th fastest but he pulled one out of the bag when needed, setting the second fastest time just ahead of the Ford of Alex Davison.

"I seem to have fitted right in at my new team at Brad Jones Racing and the set up suits me," said Richards. "I'm getting the most out of the car and the team's getting the most out of me and we're getting results now."

At the end of it all, 21 drivers had gone under the lap record, including all the Kiwi drivers. Series leader Jamie Whincup will be scratching his head trying to understand how you can be under the lap record, but only end up 21st fastest. He'll have his work cut out today if he's to bounce back in qualifying.

If practice is anything to go by, qualifying will be a hum-dinger and there's a number of Kiwis well and truly in the mix, including Greg Murphy who looks like he might have his mojo back.

In the New Zealand version of the big bangers, the BNT V8s, two top runners didn't even qualify. Tim Edgell broke a drive shaft and Paul Manuell blew an engine but both are expected to make the grid for today's first race. Angus Fogg put his Ford on pole ahead of Kayne Scott and Craig Baird.

Porsche GT3 Cup champion Baird again proved he's the man to beat by qualifying fastest to put his 997 on pole. He was over half a second faster than Jono Lester but the surprise of the day was newcomer to the class, former NZV8 champion John McIntyre. He took to Porsche like a duck to water, qualifying third on the grid.

Toyota Racing Series champion Mitch Cunningham put his car on the front row but was pipped for pole by Richie Stanaway. The GT1 class is new at this year's event and Bernie Gillon sits on pole next to Luke Mason.

LEADING PRACTICE TIMES

* Will Davison (Holden)1:23.5620
* Jason Richards (Holden) 1:23.7711
* Alex Davison (Ford) 1:23.8697
* Craig Lowndes (Ford) 1:23.8735
* Russell Ingall (Holden) 1:23.8771
* Greg Murphy (Holden) 1:23.9287
* Shane Van Gisbergen (Ford) 1:23.9843
* Marcus Marshall (Ford) 1:23.9898
* Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 1:24.0711
* Paul Dumbrell (Holden) 1:24.0955