Motorsport: Kiwi van der Drift pleased with first outing

Kiwi Chris van der Drift looks on at Bathurst. Photo / Matthew Hansen

Kiwi Supercar co-driver Chris van der Drift is hopeful he and Shae Davies can bring home a solid result for Erebus Motorsport at this weekend's Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

Van der Drift was happy following his first stint in the car during opening practice, despite a few niggles in the opening session.

"We had a bit of a drama with powersteering at the start," said van der Drift. "So Shae [Davies] did the first half of the session, and then we just bolted on some old shitty tyres for me to run around on."

He said he and the team will improve the car as the weekend goes on, but said the car is a step up from Sandown. The Kiwi said practice one's time won't be representative of the results to come, as he went out on older used tyres.

"We just need to improve the car a lot, [but] it's pretty good compared to Sandown. That's straightforward, and times don't really matter now.

"I don't really care about the times at the moment, it's all just getting it in the right direction first before stuffing it in the wall or something like that, and then you lose everything."

This weekend's Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 is only van dert Drift's second race in a Supercar, but is already coming to grips with the Holden Commodore V8.

"It's good, that car feels fine. If we get a little bit more out of the car it'll be easier to improve. It's all tyres anyway and what you use with those, so we had some old black things on. So Shae will go next in the co-drivers session, and then I'll be back in it this afternoon again.

Following the first session, he felt the car was strong and is confident he and Davies will do well. However, the first goal is to make it home unscathed.

"I want to finish and have no crashing. I mean top-15 is our aim really. I think that's definitely possible. We just have to see how the weekend plays out.

"It's nice to be up the front of practice but it doesn't really matter. We've just got to keep chipping away. I feel good, and the team's working hard so we'll get there."

Van der Drift will be back out on track in practice three at Mount Panorama, whilst teammate Davies will drive in practice two. The quickest driver over the weekend will qualify the Erebus Commodore.