Craig Lowndes has set the fastest time on the opening day of practice at the Falken Tasmania Challenge at Symmons Plains.
The TeamVodafone driver, currently third in the V8 Supercars Championship Series, finished the session over 0.1s ahead of the rest of the field.
Ford Performance Racing driver Steve Richards was the second fastest in the final session, who edged out Toll Holden Racing team rival Garth Tander.
Richards’ team-mate Mark Winterbottom was fourth fastest, with Jack Daniel’s Racing’s Rick Kelly was fifth.
In terms of the leading championship contenders, Jamie Whincup (TeamVodafone) was sixth while James Courtney (Jim Beam Racing) was down in 13th place.
Privateer Ford racer Dean Fiore was the big surprise, finishing eighth overall. The West Australian set his fastest time in the third session after putting on new brand-new tyres.
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V8 Supercars hit the circuit tomorrow for qualifying at 11.20am.
| 1 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.0677* |
| 2 | 6 | Steven Richards | Ford Falcon FG | 0:52.1791 |
| 3 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.2041 |
| 4 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 0:52.2135 |
| 5 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.2534 |
| 6 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.2729 |
| 7 | 51 | Greg Murphy | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.3579 |
| 8 | 12 | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 0:52.3606 |
| 9 | 55 | Paul Dumbrell | Ford Falcon FG | 0:52.3964 |
| 10 | 39 | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.4572 |
| 11 | 17 | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 0:52.4602 |
| 12 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.4708 |
| 13 | 18 | James Courtney | Ford Falcon FG | 0:52.4961 |
| 14 | 9 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 0:52.5577 |
| 15 | 33 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.5940 |
| 16 | 14 | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.6718 |
| 17 | 19 | Jonathon Webb | Ford Falcon FG | 0:52.6723 |
| 18 | 47 | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 0:52.6761 |
| 19 | 24 | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.7149 |
| 20 | 8 | Jason Richards | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.7152 |
| 21 | 3 | Tony D’Alberto | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.7714 |
| 22 | 4 | Alex Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 0:52.7820 |
| 23 | 30 | Warren Luff | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.8389 |
| 24 | 11 | Jason Bargwanna | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.8805 |
| 25 | 22 | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.9465 |
| 26 | 34 | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE | 0:52.9913 |
| 27 | 10 | Andrew Thompson | Holden Commodore VE | 0:53.1556 |
| 28 | 16 | Tony Ricciardello | Holden Commodore VE | 0:53.2702 |
| 29 | 21 | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE | 0:53.3310 |
