Hidden Valley: Team Betta Friday report

TEAM BETTA ELECTRICAL'S WARM START AT THE TOP END

Team Betta Electrical are off to a solid start at round five of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Darwin's Hidden Valley Raceway with both drivers lapping consistently in the top ten during today's extended practice session.

Winner of round four of the series, Craig Lowndes struggled for grip during the opening half of the limited lap's session and was forced to swap to a better set of tyres much earlier than planned.

Lowndes ended the day in 11th position after topping the charts in the middle of the session but as the track improved found his practice tyres were past their best.

The Team Betta Electrical driver was confident of moving further up time sheets in tomorrows qualifying.

"Our first set of practice tyres didn't help us today," Lowndes said. "They were not as good as expected so we ended up using our P2 tyres earlier than we wanted to.

"We are very confident that when we get on the new rubber tomorrow the car will respond accordingly.

Team mate Jamie Whincup finshed the day in 9th place but was forced to to revert to his older P1 tyres for the second half of the session after he flat spotted one of his P2 tyres.

"My car was very well balanced and improved with the extra grip on track but 9th today didn't reflect what we were capable of," Whincup said.

"After flat spotting early on my P2 set I wasn't able to take advantage of the better tyres at all.

"We are in the right qualifying session for tomorrow and we have every confidence of improving our position ready for the start of the race," Whincup added.

Qualifying for the V8 Supercars will start at 11.00am (Local Time) with the Top Ten Shootout at 12.00pm and Race 1 (100kms) getting underway at 3.00pm.

-tbe-