Defending V8 champion Garth Tander now has no doubt his risky move to quit last year's championship-winning team for the Holden Racing Team was the right one.
Tander topped the timesheets in practice today for round four of the championship at Barbagallo Raceway, following on from his clean sweep of all three races in round three in New Zealand.
His form and speed would appear to puncture any doubts surrounding his much-talked about off-season defection from the Toll-HSV Dealer Team, especially with a car clealry capable of another fruitful round in his home state this weekend.
"It was a difficult decision, but we're getting pretty good results at the moment so I'm sleeping pretty well at night," Tander said after his fastest lap of the day, a 56.5381sec effort which was four-hundredths of a second faster than second-placed Ford driver Steven Richards.
"We're still finding small things here and there but I couldn't be happier with the way the transition's taken place."
Buoying his confidence is the fact no one knows this weekend's race venue like West Australian Tander, whose formative years were spent whizzing around Barbagallo earning his motor racing L-plates.
But Tander was playing down any suggestion of a home ground advantage, especially since he is now Victorian-based.
"These days I've probably done more laps of Winton (HRT's testing track in north-east Victoria) than I have of Barbagallo," Tander said.
"But I know every grain of sand of this place - I've done a fair few laps around here and it comes flooding back to you the more laps you do over the course of the weekend.
"As far as home track advantage goes, I don't think there is a such a thing in V8 racing, but it will come in handy."
Tander is currently second in the championship, trailing former Toll-HSV teammate Rick Kelly 626 points to 672.
Kelly heads a Holden 1-2-3 in the points standings going into the weekend's racing, with Lee Holdsworth third.
Kelly was sixth fastest in practice today - a relatively uneventful session though several leading drivers found the track's notorious sandtraps.
Richards, Todd Kelly and Greg Murphy were among those to end up bogged after losing control on the tight, unforgiving Barbagallo circuit.
Qualifying and the first of three 50-lap races for the weekend will be held tomorrow.
