KEY POINTS:
Holden driver Todd Kelly led the way as Australians dominated practice today for the weekend's third round of the Australian V8 Supercars series at Pukekohe Raceway south of Auckland.
New Zealand drivers were well-shaded with the Australians recording the top 10 times.
Four-time winner Greg Murphy was a disappointing 23rd in the standings in his Tasman Motorsport Holden.
The best of the New Zealanders was Steven Richards (Ford Performance) in 11th with Jason Richards (Tasman Holden) 13th, Fabian Coulthard (Team Sirromet Holden) 19th and Paul Radisich (Team Kiwi Racing Ford) 20th.
Pukekohe, hosting its final Supercar round, lived up to its reputation as a great driver's track.
Holden's Todd Kelly went under the race lap record to top drivers after the 2-1/2 hour session in front of a record Friday crowd of over 25,000.
His fastest time in his VE Commodore was 55.77 seconds on the 2.8km circuit, ahead of the Fords of James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom.
Courtney, trying to win the final round at Pukekohe for owners Ross and Jimmy Stone who grew up in the district, said a flying lap at Pukekohe required skill and courage.
"If you don't finish with one eye closed and squeezing your backside together then you have not had a good lap," Courtney quipped.
"This is a real driver's circuit and you can really grab the car here and have a go."
The top three drivers and last round winner, Garth Tander, went under the 56-second barrier today.
Kelly was alarmed at suggested plans for a chicane to slow the cars coming on to the front straight.
"That's one of my favourite pieces of track at any circuit anywhere. Some tracks are boring.
"To get a good lap you need to be on the edge at that part of the circuit."
It is an important weekend for Winterbottom with last year's series runner-up struggling for results in the opening two rounds.
"We were fast in Adelaide but had some misfortunes in the pits and Perth didn't go to plan," Winterbottom said.
"We really need to go well here to kick start our year."
He believes the pace will be hot for tomorrow's key qualifying session under the new format with three qualifying periods of 15 minutes to be followed by the first race over 43 laps in the afternoon.
There are two further races on Sunday.
- NZPA
