The stunning crowd of 17,600 – a record for any pre-season official V8 Supercar test day - braved intermittent showers to watch Brad Jones Racing duo Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard complete a one-two sweep of the running and topple the circuit practice in the process.

The session resembled the last 10 minutes of a qualifying session rather than a test day.

Driving his Team BOC Commodore, Bright topped today’s running with a 1m28.9655s lap that was comfortably underneath Craig Lowndes’ previous record of 1m29.2493s.

Coulthard, second, also dipped under the existing benchmark in his sister BJR entry, trailing Bright by just 0.0402s after more than six hours of total running today.

Intermittent rain showers made the session more of a challenge for teams and drivers, several teams only getting minimal running in between showers.

The results will be pleasing for the hard-working Albury based team who were far from the first in getting their next-generation V8 Supercars to the circuit – their first car only getting its first shakedown early in January.

Holden’s dominated Saturday's running with David Reynolds and Mark Winterbottom making progress for the Factory Ford team, Pepsi Max Crew FPR, and cracking the Top 10.

German driver Maro Engel was the quickest of the Erebus Motorsport Mercedes AMG trio, finishing the day 14^th in his #9 SP Tools Racing entry.

The impressive sportscar and GT ace had run well inside the Top-10 earlier in the afternoon sessions, before being shuffled down the order as the quick times came towards the end of the day.

Slade (20^th) and Holdsworth (24^th) only gained limited laps with Engel doing the bulk of the running but proving he has what it takes to succeed in V8 Supercars.

Whilst several V8 teams will now concentrate on preparations for the Clipsal 500 Adelaide in two weeks, several have plans for private testing between now and the season opener.

Running the new format for the first time, where two championship rounds are held over two consecutive days, Lamattina proved unstoppable across the weekend. He took victory with a slowing 5.49 over a tyre smoking Damien Harris, who also made the final for the second time in a weekend.

The win extended Lamattina’s championship lead over second placed Darren Morgan to 40 points.

“It is a lead but it’s only a marginal one, we only have to slip up and Darren could be right on our tail again,” Lamattina said.

“We need to be consistent and stay that little bit ahead all the time. The other competitors have nothing to lose and that is a very dangerous situation because they are willing to take risks when we might be on the conservative side. We can’t be too conservative, when the opportunity arises we need to still lean on it.”

For Harris the event was a great send off for his current team and dragster, with the Best Tractor Parts driver moving under the Rapisarda Autosport International banner as of the next championship round.

There was plenty of drama across the day as the limits of the 8000 horsepower nitro motors were pushed.

Morgan top qualified with a 5.16, but he would have to settle only for a consolation final appearance when his K-Trans dragster lost power on his pass in the elimination round.

Lamattina’s elimination round win came with a 4.85 over Mark Sheehan, who had one of the more bizarre incidents of the season when he had a fire occur right as his dragster was started. Fortunately the Perth Motorplex safety crew were right on the scene, but it meant Sheehan was unable to front for his pass.

Harris used a 5.12 to defeat Allan Dobson in the elimination round. Dobson experienced two engine fires during the day (pictured below) as the team, who have confessed they are chasing national record times, not only found the edge but stepped over it.