Pither lays foundation with Pukekohe dozen

Chris Pither’s charge from the rear was arguably the finest of the three hometown heroes on Saturday.

Pither put in one of his best performances of the season in the ITM Auckland SuperSprint opener.

The PremiAir Racing driver vaulted from 25th to 13th in the 41-lap sprint.

Pither is one of three New Zealanders on the grid.

Andre Heimgartner scored a memorable podium, with Shane van Gisbergen fifth.

Neither had to push like Pither, who is making his first trip home for nearly three years.

The 2018 Super2 champion made it count in front of family and friends to score his best Supercars result on home soi.

“It was nice to finish the day off on a high note and have a good race,” he said.

"The PremiAir Coca-Cola Racing Supercar felt relatively strong and consistent in the race and that allowed us to move forward.

“I feel like I did learn a few things in the race as well, so I am feeling excited about tomorrow.

"Having a decent amount of laps consecutively in a race stint here gives you the chance at different times to adapt your driving style and learn a thing or two.

"I think I have definitely learnt a few things today that might help me in qualifying, so I am really looking forward to getting back into it tomorrow.”

Teammate James Golding again impressed in qualifying, and started in the top 10.

However, he would finish behind Pither following a late-race incident.

Pither acknowledged the fine margins in qualifying, but is confident he has the race pace required to make more ground on Sunday.

“Qualifying has been a bit of an Achilles heel for us,” he said.

“It is also so tight around here too, I think we were only 0.6 off pole so it really is so close.

"It was disappointing that we didn’t get it right but another trend we are finding is that we are usually quite strong with our race pace.

“That was certainly the case this afternoon."