Clearly fired up by comments from his nearest rival that Holden needed to work harder, Garth Tander clocked on for an impressive shift at the V8 Supercar office today - and it showed on his timesheet.
Defending champion Tander threw down the gauntlet to championship leader Mark Winterbottom in opening practice for round eight at Winton Raceway, posting a clear fastest time to signal a good weekend looms.
Holden Racing Team (HRT) driver Tander defied unpredictable weather conditions which shifted between Arctic and ark-like to clock a fastest lap three-tenths of a second quicker than Winterbottom's Ford.
Another Ford driver, Fabian Coulthard, was a surprise third fastest around the north-east Victorian track.
But Tander, who had admitted he and HRT needed to lift as they tried to claw back Winterbottom's championship lead, appeared to be simmering over media comments made by Winterbottom this week.
The Ford Performance Racing driver had taken a bat to Holden rivals who were suggesting Ford's dominance this season needed to be reined in using the sport's parity system, saying they needed to stop whingeing and start working.
Tander left no doubt what he thought of those comments as he and HRT showed today they might be able to cut into Winterbottom's lead and add to Holden's one round win for the year.
"I read in the press the Holden teams have to work a lot harder, and we've done that coming into Winton," Tander said in a thinly-veiled reference to his Ford rival.
"Certainly there's more Fords up the front at the moment than Holdens. But there's enough of us up there - it only takes one to win."
After Winterbottom had held the best time for much of the latter part of practice, Tander then rattled off a 1minute 23.6947second lap to bounce Winterbottom off the top of the timesheets.
Tander trails Winterbottom by 122 points going into the weekend.
A changeable day like today - single-digit temperatures and bright sunshine, then intermittent storms with heavy rain and winds - is forecast tomorrow.
But Tander expects the times to far more compacted than in today's session.
"I wouldn't have thought there'd be three-tenths tomorrow," Tander said.
"The weather's forecast to be changeable again tomorrow, so today's probably good practice for when it counts."
Today's session was marred by a big crash involving young New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, who hit a wall in his Ford.
While van Gisbergen was unhurt, his car sustained hefty damage and his Stone Brothers Racing team face a tough night to have the car ready for qualifying and the first of three races tomorrow.
Meanwhile, stewards tonight docked Ford's Steven Richards 12 points for careless driving over an infringement in round seven at Queensland Raceway.
Richards is currently fifth in the championship.
