ENZED drivers championship leader Chris Pither has kicked off Round 3 of the 2011 Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series - protected by Armor All with a bang after taking out the combined practice session today (Friday, 17th June) at Hidden Valley Raceway.

Pither used brand new tyres for the final session, which put the Ice Break Racing Holden in front for the day, striking the first blow for Holden fans. The reigning New Zealand Champ leads the series by only one point heading into the round ahead of defending V8 Ute and Hidden Valley Champion Grant Johnson. Johnson came in eleventh overall in the sessions; however his practice result has never been reflective of his weekend performance. On sector times alone, Johnson was fastest in the first practice session, the Hi Tech backed driver not declaring his poker hand till the stakes are higher and qualifying points are on the line.

"We usually just take it easy in practice, the last few years we didn't even make it out for practice so we aren't too worried. The car feels good and I'm hoping to get a good result this weekend for Holiday Inn and Corestaff," said Johnson.

Queenslander Ryal Harris put his VIP Petfoods Ford in third for the combined session and is only trailing Pither by 5 points. Harris claimed session one with a time of 1.22.70 but wasn't fast enough to catch Pither in the second session who pipped him by 3/10ths of a second.

Thirsty Camel Racing's Craig Dontas was fourth fastest overall and VIP Petfoods backed Brad Patton did well to finish practice in fourth one of his best results.

Kim "The Assassin" Jane is back on track to reclaim a Hidden Valley podium taking fifth overall ahead of Stratco Racing's Rhys McNally. McNally almost didn't make the round along with West Aussie teammates, Rick Gill, Johnson and brother Jake due to ash cloud but lucky for the crew NRW chipped in and flew them over in a private jet.

Jeremy Gray, who is sporting the Newcastle Jets and Newcastle Knights on the side of his Ford BF drove hard to claim seventh for the session ahead of Australian Industrial Supplies backed David Sieders in eighth.

Jesus Racing's Andrew Fisher and Cameron McConville rounded out the top ten. McConville is getting plenty of track time balancing double duty between a V8 Supercar endurance drive with HSV and the V8 Utes.

Auto One Wildcard driver, Tim Blanchard struggled with electrical issues in practice 1, was forced to sit the second session out, and did well to finish 14th overall. The Ute is now back on song and should be fine for qualifying.

Warren Millet also suffered the same issue however managed to get one and a half sessions under his belt.

Jack "The Hustler" Elsegood who is sitting fifth on the V8 Ute leader-board was battling with power steering issues in practice 1 but the team worked overtime and he was back on track for session two.

The V8 Utes will hit the track at 8:40am tomorrow morning (Saturday, 19th June) to battle it out for the Armor All Pole Award ($1,000 cash) in the Qualifying session, which will determine the grid for Race 1 at 10:35am.

Race 2 will be televised LIVE on Network Seven from 2pm (AEST).

The V8 Utes will be back on track on Sunday, 19th June for Race 3 at 10:30am and then Race 4 at 1:30pm, which will also be televised LIVE on 7Mate.

The 2011 Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series - protected by Armor All features 32 Ford and Holden production based V8 racing utes - covering 8 championship rounds, and 26 races through five states of Australia. The series is televised nationally on the SEVEN Network, through Fox Sports, TV3 New Zealand, Motors TV Europe and over 40 countries worldwide.

 See below top ten points from combined practice:           

 1  42  Ice Break Racing    Chris Pither   Holden SS VE   1:22.50  2  58  VIP Petfoods                      Ryal Harris   Ford Falcon XR8 BF     1:22.70  3  22  Thirsty Camel Racing    Craig Dontas   Holden SS VE     1:22.76    4  14  VIP Petfoods    Brad Patton   Ford Falcon XR8 BF     1:22.90  5  27  Bob Jane T-Marts                 Kim Jane      Holden SS VE     1:22.91  6  26  STRATCO Racing                      Rhys McNally   Holden SS VE           1:23.10  7  7  Tinkler Motorsports                    Jeremy Gray   Ford Falcon XR8 BF    1:23.17   8  8  Australian Industrial Supplies     David Sieders      Ford Falcon XR8 BF     1:23.18  9  9  Jesus Racing                      Andrew Fisher     Ford Falcon XR8 BF     1:23.25  10  61  Bundaberg Racing                      Cameron McConville   Holden SS VE    1:23.26  

See below top five drivers for the ENZED Drivers Championship

 1   Chris Pither    Ice Break Racing   252   2   Grant Johnson   Core Staff/Holiday Inn   251   3   David Sieders   Australia Industrial Supplies Racing   249   4   Ryal Harris   VIP Petfoods   247   5   Jack Elsegood   Coopers Clear Racing   210