KEY POINTS:
Teenager Shane Van Gisbergen made an impressive start today the Hamilton round of the V8 Supercar championship, clocking one of the top three times on the new street circuit.
Ford driver Van Gisbergen's one minute, 24.83 seconds on the 3.4km track was the third fastest of the day, and the 18-year-old admitted he couldn't wipe the smile off his face during the press conference for the three leading drivers.
"I couldn't stop smiling being up there with those guys," he said.
"It was awesome. Hopefully, I'll be there tomorrow."
Championship leader Jamie Whincup posted the fastest lap in his Ford Falcon, stopping the clock at 1min 24.58sec, followed by defending champion Garth Tander with 1min 24.62sec in a Holden Commodore.
After Van Gisbergen, the next best New Zealander was Steven Richards, sixth with 1min 24.93sec, followed one place back by four-time Pukekohe winner Greg Murphy with 1min 24.96sec.
Van Gisbergen was happy with how his Ford Falcon had performed and said he found he managed to adapt well to the circuit.
"The car was pretty good out on the track ," he said.
"We had a good baseline set-up and it was up to me to gel with the track and the car. We did that making minor adjustments and we got there in the end. We're pretty happy with it."
Despite his notable performance, which won plaudits from Whincup, Van Gisbergen was quick to point out that it was only practice.
The real business would begin tomorrow with qualifying and then the first 133km race. Races two and three are on Sunday.
"It's only practice and there's a long weekend ahead of us, and we'll go away and look at some data," he said.
"Tomorrow is another day and we'll see how we go."
Whincup said he hadn't thought his time was going to be good enough to put him at the top of the tree.
However, all teams were still learning about the circuit and trying to get their cars set up to go as fast as possible
Of Van Gisbergen's effort, Whincup said during the press conference: "The young bloke beside me did a good job.
"It was pretty impressive, mate. I've been talking you up all week and you've delivered."
Tander predicted times to dip below 1min 24sec tomorrow.
"I think most simulations have the lap time around the 23s and it was 24-1/2. I imagine we'll get into the 23s tomorrow."
There was some minor drama in the final session of practice, when Victorian Will Davison lost a wheel as he hit a wall.
The mishap happened at a left-hand kink, where the track funnels from a wide to a narrow section.
Davison, winner of the last round at Eastern Creek in Sydney, went wide and rode up the wall, losing his right front wheel. He was unhurt, but his Ford needed a tow back to the pits.
- NZPA
