TEKNO adjusting to new surface

Balance issues and a small mistake from Shane van Gisbergen have seen TEKNO challenged in Friday practice at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

Van Gisbergen - who drove a gutsy lap in last year's top 10 shootout at Mount Panorama, landing him in fourth position - said the team was trying to adjust to the newly resurfaced circuit.

"We're just struggling at the moment with our car, so we'll try and get it better tomorrow, for sure," van Gisbergen, who finished sixth in combined practice today, told v8supercars.com.au.

"It's just balance - the new surface is quite different to last year. So you're just chasing that - and of course it's evolving so much being a street circuit, we just need to keep on top of it."

Van Gisbergen agreed, though, that by tomorrow afternoon when the V8 Supercars qualify, the track conditions will be quite different, once more rubber is laid down.

"Definitely - everyone seems to have the same issue up and down pit lane, so it will definitely get better.

"We just need to decide how much to chase it, because it's definitely going to get better tomorrow."

The young Kiwi had a brush with danger earlier in the day in the first practice session at The Cutting.

"We're all good - I had a little shunt this morning, but nothing major! It was just a mistake on my part, but it happens."

Co-driver and team boss Jonathon Webb was down the order in the co-drivers practice session, the second run of the day, but van Gisbergen said he was taking it easy.

"He didn't really want to risk it - he spent more time on race setup and trying to make it better. I got it at the end for a lap, but it wasn't a nice one so definitely need to be better tomorrow. We've got a lot of work to do."

The TEKNO team, and engineer Geoff Slater, are known to make some out of the box choices with strategy, which often work for the team - and with 1000km to run on Sunday, playing it smart can really work come the final laps of the race.

"But sometimes it doesn't work!" Van Gisbergen said. "You've got to be smart and get your seven pit stops out of the way, so we'll see what happens but we've got a few more days before Sunday."

The 25-year old seemed reasonably confident the VIP Petfoods Commodore would remain a contender for the race win come Sunday afternoon.

"We should be ok - not at the moment, but hopefully the track will come to us.

"We just have to be patient and hopefully it works - we'll see!"

Van Gisbergen and small team TEKNO has been one of the standout performers this season, sitting fourth in the Championship and having recorded three race wins - two in wet conditions in Sydney - and earning one ARMOR ALL Pole Position.

He and Webb were on for a solid result at the first of the Pirtek Enduro Cup events, until the Commodore was struck with power steering issues.

Practice begins at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 tomorrow at 9.30am AEST.