After a good season last year, Volvo driver Scott McLaughlin, one of the four Kiwis in the field, is having a polar opposite this year, and is 18th out of 26 drivers, with 573 points.
The other New Zealander in the series is Andre Heimgartner. While the Super Black Racing driver is no stranger to racing tin tops at the elite level, the step up from the Porsche Carrera Cup and the Dunlop Development Series has been huge.
But the 20-year-old has acquitted himself with poise and maturity.
"It's very different to the Development Series and I've come to appreciate the level it's at these days," said Heimgartner as he began his track walk.
"It's very, very tough and a lot tougher than I expected but we'll get there eventually. There's no one singular thing that's different, or stands out in how hard the category is - it's about not making mistakes.
"Most of the drivers have been doing this for years and they are used to not making mistakes. When you're new to the game it's hard not to make a mistake ..."
Despite being 23rd in the series, Heimgartner has shown he can produce the pace to keep up with the front-runners, including holding his own in the top 10 on occasion.
The hard part for him is being able to circulate consistently at 100 per cent and not make any mistakes.
"We've shown we have the speed to compete occasionally, but we have to put it all together and get some results," he said. "We're pretty consistent in qualifying and recently been inside the top 10 for Sunday qualifying. I'll be hoping to keep that up for this weekend.
"We had a bad round last time where I was taken out in race one, had a racing incident the next time out and had an electrical problem in the last race.
"We had a really quick car but I made the odd mistake.
"I'll learn from it and will get better. The speed is there, I've just got to make the most of it and concentrate on cutting the mistakes out."
Heimgartner appreciates he's got the right infrastructure (Prodrive Australia) behind him to get the job done. It has to be remembered though, that the Kiwi is new to the category as is his engineer, so the two are on a steep learning curve against teams who have been playing the game for years.
But Heimgartner is part of a garage that has three of the quickest drivers - Mark Winterbottom, Chaz Mostert and David Reynolds.
Being able to pick their brains will help the Kiwi gain a better understanding of the championship.
"Being part of one of the top teams in the championship couldn't put me in a better position," he said.
"I want to be as quick as them but obviously they have a lot more experience than me."
Ford's Mostert topped the timesheets in practice yesterday. The Prodrive Racing Australia driver clocked a best lap of one minute and 13.2527 seconds in the final half-hour practice session.
Mostert finished ahead of Holden's Nick Percat (1:13.3070) and Mercedes driver Will Davison (1:13.3226), who had earlier topped the second session of the day. Winterbottom finished fourth on the timesheets with a fastest lap of 1:13.3770 to cap a strong outing by him and teammate Mostert.
Supercars points after five rounds
1. Mark Winterbottom 1165
2. Craig Lowndes 1070
3. Fabian Coulthard 1010
4. Chaz Mostert 991
5. Shane van Gisbergen 940
6. James Courtney 935
7. David Reynolds 925
8. Jamie Whincup 879
