Stylish start for Ellery and Youlden.

Steven Ellery and Luke Youlden, runners up at Sandown last season, have started their assault on this seasons race in fine form after finishing the first day of practice in fourth place.

Ellery was fourth fastest time in the morning session, a performance Youlden equalled in the second, to put the Super Cheap Auto Racing Falcon in a good position ahead of qualifying.

Ellery believes the opening day showing is an indication of the speed contained within the car and driver pairing.

"It appears as though the form we had at Sandown last year has followed us into 2004 which is great," he said. "However we have broken the trend already and started the event with two really good practice sessions which will provide us with a platform to work on during qualifying tomorrow and the race on Sunday.

"We did a bit of work on the Super Cheap Auto Racing Falcon this morning which gave us more speed and made a better quality race car today and a package which has the ability to be towards the pointy end of the field."

Youlden used the second practice session to re-familiarise himself with the Sandown circuit and adapt his driving style to a manner which is similar to Ellery's.

"A lot of people think as a co-driver we can just hop into a car and drive it and immediately feel comfortable and produce quick times," he said.

"However, it is a matter of familiarising yourself to the car setup and adapting your driving style to one that is similar to the other driver to make the most of the fantastic package put together by the Super Cheap Auto Racing crew. Before the session I took a bit of time to look over the data and think about the way Steven drives and I was happy to know on track it all worked and furthermore I felt extremely comfortable."