Motorsport: Kelly to be sensible at Queensland

Holden driver Todd Kelly will not risk valuable championship points at Queensland Raceway this weekend just to clock up three successive V8 Supercar series round wins.

Second in the adjusted pointscore behind Ford's defending V8 Supercar champion Marcos Ambrose, Kelly knows he must remain sensible in his bid to win a maiden championship title.

"It's not something I'm focused on, not at all," Kelly said of the chance to become the first Holden driver since Mark Skaife in 2002 to post a three-peat of wins.

"Obviously I want to win in Queensland and I'll be doing everything to make sure that happens.

"But I want to win every round I contest. I'm not putting any special extra effort in to bag three in a row, as everyone is suggesting."

Kelly's comprehensive wins at Shanghai and Darwin have accelerated his title chances, boosting him from seventh to fourth in the overall championship standings.

With his contract negotiations at Holden Racing Team still continuing, as are rumours he is headed to Stone Brothers to replace Ambrose at year's end, Kelly is just focused on that elusive championship title.

"All I want to do is win the championship and if winning three rounds in a row -- or four, or five -- gets me there, then that's what I want to do," he said.

"But I'm not going to jeopardise my championship position with a blind charge for victory in Queensland, just for the sake of winning three in a row. That's not what I'm about."

Holden's recent dominance in the V8 series is an alarming concern for the Ford drivers, with the big red lion winning every session since Friday practice at Shanghai in China two rounds ago.

Making matters worse for the blue oval team, the Super Cheap Auto and Dodo racing teams have finally solved puzzling mechanical issues in their Commodores which have ruined their previous rounds.

New Zealand driver Greg Murphy and Paul Weel are confident their cars are now fast enough to push for the podium at Ipswich this weekend after great testing sessions at Phillip Island last week.

"It is the best car I've driven here at Phillip Island in the three tests we've had so far this year; we've made some progress after Darwin and it's been a positive day," Murphy said.

"At the same time, we still don't know how those changes will translate into performance at Queensland Raceway, which is an entirely different track to Phillip Island, so we're remaining cautious."

Jamie Whincup and Jason Richards' Commodores have been cured of their intermittent engine misfire and have more speed in readiness for the "paperclip" circuit.

"We were able to find the problem and it's actually resulted in the engine running a lot cleaner and faster, which means more power," Whincup said.

"That can only help us at Queensland Raceway with its big long straights. It's a huge relief to have it solved and we can now place our energy in making the car go faster than worrying about any gremlins."

- AAP