Two-time defending champs Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup have begun their quest for an historic hat-trick by clocking the fastest time in Thursday practice at the Bathurst 1000.
There were three practice sessions on Thursday with the Triple Eight Racing duo clocking two minutes 07.5975 seconds in the third session, two tenths faster than Sprint Gas pair Greg Murphy and Jason Richards.
Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards were third quickest, more than half a second off the pace, just ahead of Rick Kelly and Paul Radisich in the HSV dealer Team Commodore and the No.39 Supercheap Auto Holden of Russel Ingall.
Reigning series champion Garth Tander and partner Mark Skaife were tenth quickest, 1.15 slower than Lowndes and Whincup.
Tander had earlier clocked the fastest time in second practice, while Warren Luff, in the Jim Beam Racing No.17, was quickest in first practice.
Lowndes said it was a good start to what he hoped was a big weekend.
"We’ve had a good opening day at Bathurst – the team had a solid leadup with a podium at Phillip Island and our test day helped us further improve the car for the coming weekend," he said.
"Today was about getting out there and getting in some track time; we learnt that the car worked well on a very similar setup to last year which is a big advantage."
"It handled all aspects of the track well and we’re happy to finish on top today, though we still have a massive task ahead of us to win a third title here."
Whincup said the day was as much about getting used to the car again as it was about speed.
"I’ve made seven starts at Bathurst and this is the first opportunity I’ve ever gotten to take to the track on a set of green tyres," he said.
"The car was great out there today, we haven’t had much time to go through the data yet but it was a comfortable car to drive – it helps that Craig and myself enjoy a really similar setup in our regular cars."
"This is a good confidence booster going into the second day of competition where it will be crucial to maintain this pace."