Kiwi young gun Shane van Gisbergen proved age is no hurdle when setting the pace at the V8 Supercar Championship Series official pre-season test at Queensland Raceway yesterday.
The 20-year-old SP Tools Racing driver, the youngest in the 2010 field, posted the day's quickest lap in the afternoon session. Jim Beam Racing's James Courtney made it a Ford one-two for the Queensland-based V8 Supercar teams with the second quickest time.
Russell Ingall was the third fastest driver at the Queensland Raceway test after unveiled his new-look Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore, ahead of Jonathon Webb (Dick Johnson Racing) and Dean Fiore (Triple F Racing).
But while Van Gisbergen was the man to beat today, he suggests it means little when he gets to the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series season-opener at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit on February 18-20.
"This afternoon we got the car really good on a better set of tyres," said Van Gisbergen.
"We were mid-pack and we put on the new set of tyres, like most other people did, and we were straight to the top.
"But you don't get any trophies for a test day; we're just hanging out for Abu Dhabi and getting ready for that.
"We're all hanging out to get over there and hopefully we're up there again."
Meanwhile, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup debuted TeamVodafone's two new Holden Commodore VEs, finishing the test 10th and 11th fastest, respectively.
While TeamVodafone didn't set the pace at the test day, Whincup believes the change to Holden from Ford is a great motivation for his 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series title defence.
"I'm feeling good and it's a whole new motivation trying to get the Holden up to speed," said Whincup.
"The challenge in making the car competitive is one that's keeping us going at the moment; it's one that's going to make us strong. If we were here doing the same thing as last year, there wouldn't be anywhere near the morale within the team.
"It's a new challenge, it's exciting. We're not at the end of the road yet, we've got a lot of work to do, but fingers crossed we're on track."
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