Motorsport: Kiwi young gun hot in practice

Shane van Gisbergen says he likes Phillip Island as an endurance circuit and finds it great preparation for Bathurst. Photo / Alan Gibson

For V8 fans, the wait has been too long. It has been nine weeks since the big taxis in the Australian V8 Supercars were in action. Understandably, the drivers and teams are raring to go.

This weekend the series roars into life with the first of the endurance rounds at Phillip Island for the L&H 500. One of the teams to keep an eye on will be the Stone Brothers Racing pairing of Shane van Gisbergen and John McIntyre.

The Kiwi combination are back together for the first time in three years and will contest all three endurance rounds starting with Phillip Island, moving to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, October 7-10 and the Armor All Gold Coast 600, October 22-24.

Van Gisbergen upended the stars yesterday, clocking the quickest lap in practice and was the only driver to crack the 1m 33s mark.

He stopped the clock at 1m 32.79s with seven minutes of the final practice session remaining.

Craig Lowndes was second fastest with a 1m 33.01s lap, ahead of another Holden driver, Rick Kelly.

Van Gisbergen has had a breakout year in 2010 and is fourth on the V8 Supercar table. Couple the youngster's raw pace and adventurous driving with the experience and guile of McIntyre, the two-time New Zealand V8 champion, put the duo as the top all-Kiwi pairing.

"The break's been too long really and I'm really pumped for the weekend," said van Gisbergen. "Jonny and I have had a couple of good tests and he's already up to speed. The only problem is the mid-season break has been longer than the off-season and so you lose a bit of race fitness.

"We've had a good season so far with a number of quick-fire races but I'm looking forward to the Phillip Island format. Each driver has their own qualifying for each race and it's a lot of fun. I like Phillip Island and it's a good track for an endurance race and great preparation for Bathurst."

A test day last week, plus an earlier test session, has seen McIntyre spend a fair amount of time behind the wheel of the number nine SP Tools Racing Falcon.

"I feel privileged to drive with SBR again. To be in my second year with the team and in their lead car with Shane is a proud achievement," said McIntyre.

"My fitness is the best it has ever been thanks again to the direction from SBR and their trainer Bluey. I've been training for around four months at home."

The added advantage van Gisbergen and McIntyre may have over many of the other teams is they both like the car set up pretty much the same. This was evident back in 2007, when they last drove together, and had a very similar car configuration.

"The only real difference, and it's pretty minor, is the brake bias and the roll bars. These things can be changed while we are driving the car. Jonny likes the car how I like it so it doesn't mean there has to be a compromise in the setup so we get the best car. We can just go for it," said van Gisbergen.

There is another all-Kiwi pairing this weekend in the shape of Fabian Coulthard and Craig Baird. The experienced Baird will be a fillip for Coulthard who has had an up-and-down year so far.

Baird has driven for the Toll Holden Racing Team for the past two seasons and this year shifts across to their sister team.

Others to watch include championship leader James Courtney who is paired with Warren Luff who had a top-10 finish at Phillip Island last year. Defending champion Jamie Whincup will share with Steve Owen who really should have a full-time drive in V8s.

Points
1. James Courtney....1947
2. Jamie Whincup....1827
3. Mark Winterbottom....1623
4. Shane van Gisbergen....1598
5. Garth Tander....1509
6. Craig Lowndes....1479