Team Vodafone pairing Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup have made a solid start to the final round of the V8 Supercar Championship season after setting top ten times in practice for the Dunlop Grand Finale.
Lowndes spent the early part of the session jostling for top spot on the times, but despite switching to a set of newer tyres he was unable to remain in contention for top spot and eventually ended the session in sixth place.
However he remained confident ahead of qualifying and the first of three races on Sunday although he was happier with his race set-up than he was with the one he will use for qualifying.
The car is working really well, he said. We started with a pretty good baseline today and made some very positive progression throughout the session.
I had a pretty good second set of tyres, but just didn't get the best out of them when I was on a flyer. We are happy with our race package but still have a bit of work to do on our qualifying setup.
Points leader Whincup was forced to run on two sets of old tyres during the extended session, but still kept his Falcon near the top of the times for much of the day. Although he slipped down the order to finish up ninth, he was still happy with the balance of his car.
We were in the same situation as practice in Tasmania, he said. We just don't have any good tyres left. I was really happy with the car balance today and I am confident we are going to be fast tomorrow.
Lowndes and Whincup will also hope to put on a good show this weekend in memory of Janet Cooper, a personal friend of the Triple Eight-run team who died in a boating accident last weekend. Both drivers will don black armbands throughout the Phillip Island race weekend as a mark of respect.
