Bright's records set to tumble

Both the race and qualifying lap records in a V8 Supercar have stood at Hidden Valley Raceway for over a decade - but at this month's SKYCITY Triple Crown, they are set to tumble.

A resurface of the track is sure to produce record times, and Team BOC's Jason Bright - who holds both records at the circuit, a 1min07.8546 set in qualifying in 2002 on a Dunlop control tyre in a Holden Racing Team Commodore VX, and a 1min09.0149 on the Bridgestone control tyre in a Ford Falcon AU in 1999 - knows his numbers will be under threat.

"I think anytime the track's resurfaced, the records are under threat, so I wouldn't be surprised if it got knocked off this year," Bright told v8supercars.com.au.

"It's always a shame when that happens with something like a resurface or the soft tyre.

"But even when we went there in 1998 and 1999 [first two V8 Supercars events staged at the circuit] only the two corners had the new surface on it, the rest was all quite an old surface, so it's the first time the track has ever been all new for us."

Bright is not surprised the records have stood for so long, given the differences between the cars and tyres from then to now.

"I'm not overly surprised - I think back then the cars had a lot less downforce and were a lot slipperier and at Darwin there's quite a lot of time spent going in a straight line ... we used to be very hard on the limiter at the end of the main straight there back then, so straight-line speed was a lot higher. I think we had more horsepower, we didn't have the control cam.

"[2002] was the first year of the Dunlop tyre there, but I would've thought that would've been a surface that didn't suit the Dunlop tyre compared to what we'd run on there before, which was the Bridgestone."

Bright sits 12th in the Championship and while he has had three wins at Hidden Valley (and three pole positions), his last Darwin victory was back in 2006 with Ford Performance Racing.

The Brad Jones Racing Commodores have been performing well this season, but starting closer to the front is key for Bright.

"I'm interested to see how our cars go on the new surface, certainly at Winton our car felt very strong on the very small patches that were resurfaced...

"When everyone wraps their head around a new surface everyone will be stronger on that. We just need to try and make our car qualify better and I'm pretty sure we will race well."

Nissan driver Rick Kelly - who sits 10th in the Championship and comes off his best performance in an Altima after recording a podium finish on Saturday at Winton - sees the new conditions as a chance to achieve results by learning quicker than competitors.

"Teams that went well there last year and the last few years may not go well this year depending on how they can set the car up on the new surface," Kelly said.

"Obviously the layout, the corners are the same from a radius and camber point of view, but the surface really does throw a big unknown out there, and it throws a challenge to all of the teams.

"From that point of view it's exciting, it's a real opportunity for us to get on top of things quicker than anyone else, and we also want to maintain the momentum we're carrying after the last couple of rounds from a results point of view."

Red Bull Racing Australia engineer David Cauchi predicts interesting results across Saturday's races, given teams will work on both compound tyres in the qualifying and race sessions after the decision to run the second race and its qualifying session on soft Dunlop tyres.

"The resurface will definitely mix things up setup-wise as data from previous years is less relevant with the new surface," Cauchi said on the Red Bull Racing Australia website.

"It will take some time for drivers and engineers to get their heads around what is required to go fast so we might see some bigger performance differences between cars.

"How long the tyre will last on the new surface is another unknown so this will spice up the racing as drivers will be finding the limits of both compounds during the first two races on Saturday. All in all it should be an exciting weekend of racing."

The SKYCITY Triple Crown runs from June 19-21, with tickets available by clicking here.

Follow live on FOX SPORTS 506 across the three days and stay tuned to TEN and ONE for highlights.