Holden star Jamie Whincup dominated the opening day of this year's Gold Coast V8 Supercars event before dismissing Ford rival Mark Winterbottom as a carried-away clown.
Winterbottom sparked a war of words in the build-up to the Surfers Paradise round by labelling Whincup's Red Bull Racing as "arrogant".
The four-time champion gave his response on track by setting the fastest time in practice ahead of this weekend's two 300km races, finishing ahead of Holden pair James Courtney and David Wall.
Whincup's main championship rivals, teammate Craig Lowndes and Winterbottom, were off the pace on Friday.
A late puncture ruined Lowndes's bid to move up the timesheets and he could only post the day's 18th best time while Winterbottom, running on a poor bank of practice tyres, was down in 22nd.
And Whincup had a warning for Winterbottom ahead of this weekend's showdown, claiming the 32-year-old might have become a bit carried away following his Bathurst 1000 victory a fortnight ago.
"I only know of one clown who made a few comments early," Whincup said when asked if he believed mind games were being attempted ahead of the championship run-in.
"I've disregarded them (Winterbottom's comments). Talk about bragging rights or winning a race and making the most of it ... just a little bit carried away with a big win.
"The championship's a long year ... Car 5 did a great job at Bathurst, they deserved the win and looking forward to the battle right through to Sunday in Sydney."
With Whincup's co-driver Paul Dumbrell topping the timesheets in the two co-driver-only sessions of the day, it was a clean sweep for the defending champion as he aimed to continue a run of form at Surfers where he's won three of the past four races at the 2.97km street circuit.
The concrete walls of the circuit also claimed their first victim of the weekend with Holden's Jason Bright in a race against time to repair his Commodore for racing after co-driver Andrew Jones struck with a wall during the third practice session of the day.
Saturday's action kicks off with qualifying at 10.30am AEST (1130AEDT) before a 300km race starts at 2.30pm AEST (1530AEDT).
