Motorsport: Teams getting top speeds from Abu Dhabi circuit

Jamie Whincup in TeamVodafone's new Holden Commodore after Triple8 Racing swapped allegiances from Ford. Photo / Getty Images

TeamVodafone hasn't lost any speed following the switch from Ford to Holden for the new V8 Supercars season, beginning this weekend at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Reigning champion Jamie Whincup topped the timesheets in the third 40-minute practice session yesterday and would have led the pack at the end of the day if his 1m 58.099s lap in the fourth and final session hadn't been scrubbed after he was ruled to have cut a corner.

That meant the day's fastest driver was young Kiwi Shane Van Gisbergen, who clocked a 1:58.223 in his Stone Brothers Racing Falcon, ahead of Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes (1:58.372) and Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom (1:58.526).

Drivers were buzzing after their first taste of the spectacular Yas Marina circuit, which features an off-camber left-right-left corkscrew that drops 15m over 100m.

"It's pretty cool, it's got a bit of everything," said Ford driver Van Gisbergen.

Two-time champion Whincup also gave the track his approval before claiming the bendy pit lane tunnel could cause grief for those not fully concentrating. With so many driver and manufacturer changes, and new teams, it's hard to pick who will be dominant.

Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes is optimistic. "The team is a perfect mix for me, it's got a great ability to build race cars," he said.

The three-time V8 champion says his return to Holden has been a far easier move than when he left to race a Ford in 2000.

As for the Kiwis, four-time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy has the pedigree but has not had the best of years lately.

He's with a new team this season and is pleased with how things have gone with Paul Morris Motorsport in the off-season. But he's not particularly happy about missing the first race of the season because of a clash of dates with Top Gear Live, where he's a co-presenter.

Team owner Morris will drive Murphy's Castrol EDGE Commodore this weekend.

Murphy may be trying to get back to his best but it's another Kiwi who's setting the pace in pre-season testing. Van Gisbergen showed a clean pair of heels to the others in setting the fastest lap, breaking the track record in the process, at the Queensland Raceway.

"We ran through all the motions during the day and got a car balance we were pretty happy with," he said.

Fellow Kiwi Jason Richards, in his second season with the Brad Jones Racing team, is upbeat about his prospects this year.

"The circuit is amazing and the facilities are mind-blowing," said Richards from Abu Dhabi. "It's quite exciting to be here and in a brand new race car. The track's going to be a good challenge for V8 Supercars with a lot of braking and turning, which our cars don't really like.

"The car felt really good in testing but we'll know at the end of the weekend how we really stack up against the others."

A new Kiwi has joined the ranks of the main game. Former Toyota Racing Series and NZ Grand Prix winner Daniel Gaunt has stepped up from the Fujitsu Development series and will contest a full V8 Supercar season for Lucas Dumbrell Racing.

Others to keep an eye on will be Fabian Coulthard, who's also with a new team, the super fast James Courtney, the Kelly brothers, who haven't really fired over the past couple of years, and last year's runner up Will Davison. And former champion Garth Tander, who's always there, or thereabouts.

MAIN RULE CHANGES

* Full-time drivers will no longer be allowed to partner one another for the endurance races at the L&H 500 and Bathurst.
* Sunday qualifying will now also happen on Saturday. It will consist of a 20-minute all-in session followed by a Top 10 Shootout to ascertain the grid.
* Extra practice session has been added for sprint events. There will be four 30-minute sessions for each sprint event with the first two sessions allocated for rookies and drivers who are outside the top 15 in the championship.
* Windscreen tear-offs can be used this year and the left-hand front door on the VE and FG models can be made of a composite material.
* The 2010 operations manual now includes a FIA-approved carbon-fibre racing seat.