It was a rapid run in the opening two practice sessions for the Repco Supercars Championship on New Zealand soil, but the honours split by Chevrolet and Toyota at Taupo.
The twin 25-minute sessions were split by only a short break of 15-minutes ensuring teams were under pressure if major set-up changes or damage needed to be attended to.
There was minimal damage, although towards the end of the second session, contact between two drivers in different stages of their lap to contact.
It was Matt Stone Racing’s Jack Le Brocq leading the way for Chevrolet in the opening session with a 1m 27.463s ahead of Anton De Pasquale in the DEWALT Racing by 0.017s.
Brodie Kostecki led the Ford attack in third for the Shell V-Power Racing Team from Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Will Brown and recent Bathurst 6 Hour co-winner Thomas Randle in the Monster Castrol Racing Mustang.
Completing the top 10 was the Penrite Racing Mustang of Matt Payne, Ryan Wood in the Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing Toyota GR Supra, Kai Allen, birthday boy Chaz Mostert and the R&J Batteries Racing entry of Andre Heimgartner.
Those to miss the top 10 included Broc Feeney in 11th, Cam Waters was 14th and David Reynolds placed in 15th.
For the second session, the 15-minute turnaround ensured a few drivers missed the start as set-up changes took place.
Although being one of those drivers, Wood managed to put his Supra in the top spot on a 1m 26.158s to be just 0.003s clear of Brown, while Kostecki was just 0.110s off the ultimate pace.
Blanchard Racing Team’s James Golding was fourth from Heimgartner, Feeney, De Pasquale, Waters, Reynolds and LIQUIMOLY Blahst Racing’s Aaron Cameron.
A changed schedule for Saturday’s action means all Supercars races will be moved forward 30-minutes and the final event of the day will be extended to 200km.
This means the opening 120km event will begin at 12:20pm/10:20am and the second race is due to commence at 330pm/1:30pm (NZST/AEST).