Arguably the star of the session was home favourite Shane van Gisbergen, who outshone a number of his more experienced rivals to post the third quickest time for Stone Brothers Racing.
However, despite being just two-tenths of a second away from the quickest time at the wheel of the SP Tools Falcon, the teenager admitted it was important not to get too carried away with qualifying and the three races still to come.
“It's just awesome to be in the top three today,” he said. “We really didn't expect to be this quick this early. The SP Tools Falcon was quick out of the gate and I was able to adapt to the circuit quickly and with some minor adjustments we had a great car that was doing what I wanted.
“It's a great track, bumpy in places but that gives it character. The extra half-hour session today was a great help. With fewer cars on the circuit I had a good chance to settle into it.
“But today's only Friday and tomorrow's another day. We've got a long weekend ahead of us and we need to put in the homework tonight to make sure we keep improving tomorrow.”
The man van Gisbergen replaced at SBR, former series champion Russell Ingall, was fourth for Supercheap Auto Racing as he continued his recent solid form at the wheel of the #39 Holden.
Like Tander, he admitted that the circuit was tricky due to the changing surfaces and large bumps, but he remained confident heading into qualifying of a good performance from the Paul Morris-run team.
"I'm a street race fan, and I love Indy, and Hamilton's just as good,” he reflected. “I thought I'd get in the groove quickly, but it took a few laps. There's a lot of different surfaces, which makes it tricky. The bumps are horrendous, they're massive so the cars are running high - it effects the handling a bit, but it's the same for everyone. We just trucked away today, didn't do anything silly.
“Some of the chicanes out the back are turning out to be car wreckers, so we were cautious of not pushing hard. When I was happy with our setup and on new tyres we attacked it more and the times came."
![Jamie Whincup - Team Vodafone Falcon [Pic credit: Edge Photographics/Ford]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/414937.jpg)
