After over 100 days in hiatus, Ford driver Anton De Pasquale has burst out of the blocks as the Supercars championship begins a frenzied month of racing at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The Shell V-Power star was the fastest driver in both of Friday's practice sessions ahead of this weekend's Sydney SuperNight event - the first of four straight weekends of racing at the venue.
Having topped the timesheets in the opening session, De Pasquale left it late under lights in the evening practice run before clocking a one minute and 28.8064 second fastest lap.
He was the only driver to go under one minute and 29 seconds in the half-hour session, with Red Bull Ampol Racing pair Jamie Whincup and Shane Van Gisbergen the second and third-fastest drivers.
Whincup's 1:29.0415 was just enough to pip Van Gisbergen (1:29.3812) with the pair set to resume a championship title tussle that has been on a COVID-enforced hold since July when the first race of the event starts at 7.10pm AEDT on Saturday.
Van Gisbergen holds a healthy 276-point lead over seven-time champion Whincup heading into the back end of the season.
It was a mixed return to the track for top drivers Cameron Waters and Chaz Mostert.
Waters, who was second-fastest in the opening session, could only post the 11th-fastest lap in session two while Mostert was sixth in P2.
The four consecutive events at Sydney Motorsport Park will be followed by the season-ending Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama in December.
Saturday's action starts with qualifying and a top 10 shootout in the afternoon before a 32-lap race under lights in the evening.
