Last week, the Holden Racing Team completed a successful day’s testing, its first independent test day of the 2013 V8 Supercars season ahead of this weekend’s event at Hidden Valley Raceway.

HRT’s Garth Tander and James Courtney were joined at Winton Motor Raceway by enduro signing, four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Greg Murphy.

The trio completed over 200 laps of the rural Victorian circuit – more than 600kms in distance – in Tander and Courtney’s HRT VF Commodores, the regular season drivers satisfied with the day’s developments.

“This is the first real test day we’ve had and it’s been an important day to improve our speed so that we’re able to take a better package to Darwin and through the middle part of the season,” Courtney said.

“Triple Eight and Brad Jones Racing have been the benchmark teams this season but we’re definitely a step closer with what we’ve been testing. I think we’re on a level playing field now while hopefully we’ve found something to jump in front of them.

“My HRT Commodore is now the best car I’ve had all season – we’ve definitely improved it.”

Tander said the tight V8 calendar, which has already included events in Adelaide, Melbourne, Launceston, Auckland, Perth and Texas, had made it difficult to schedule an earlier test.

“Scheduling a test is hard work, so we’ve had to hold off knowing we’ve got development items on the way,” Tander said.

“Our full day test was really important as at race meetings it’s hard to develop the car and get the results you’re after.

“These days are like gold and you need to use every second of the day to make sure you’re developing the car.

“We’ve had a solid year of results; we’ve been on the podium, building and getting closer to the front, but we’ve had a couple of things holding us back.

“If we’ve been able to unlock those key items then I think we can win.”

Tander said even though the day was critical it was hard to relate it specifically to this weekend’s event, the SKYCITY Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway.

“It’s 10-13 degrees and freezing cold at Winton whereas in Darwin it’ll be 33-34 degrees with the sun shining,” he said.

“It’s hard to replicate those conditions, but testing is more about understanding what you’re doing so when we get on track at Darwin and find ourselves in certain situations we know what tool to pull out of the tool box and apply it to the car.

Courtney said the team is entirely focused on this week’s visit to the Top End.

“There’s always a huge turnout of fans in Darwin and a lot of passion for Holden and HRT – it’s a massive event for us,” he said.

“Coming off Texas and Winton it’s going to be quite a transition for the team but one we’re looking forward to. We’ve had success there in the past and we’re hoping to repeat it again.

“Fingers crossed what we’ve learnt during testing will translate into good speed with our HRT VF Commodores in Darwin.”