By David McCowen

Mark Skaife - owner and driver of the Holden Racing Team has to🐻pped the time sheets in a rain afflicted practise session this morning.

The slippery Sandown Park saw a few driers co෴me unstuck, and safet🐟y concerns saw that the session had to be stopped twice.

Skaife's time on a wet track was approximately ten seconds s🦩🐈lower than the pace in Friday's sessions, where dry conditions saw the fastest teams dominate in practice.

However, the damp track put more emphasis on the driver's performance, and it🤪 is due to this that we have seen some interesting results.

The #12 combination of John Bowe and Brad Jones, strong in Friday's weather, faultered somewhat in th𓂃e intermittant conditions, posting times that were only nineteenth fastest.

On the other hand, Craig Lowndes shot up the time sheets, as the power deficiency🐻 of his Falcon became less of an issue in the greasy conditions.

Lowndes, who achieved his 🎀best resuꦅlt this year (second place at Eastern Creek) in heavy rain, revelled in the conditions, setting a time beaten only by Skaife.

Lowndes may take comfort in the fact that rain is forcas🧜ted for Satu🦋rday afternoon's qualifying and shootout sessions.

Top Ten- Saturday Practice

1 M.Skaife/T.Kelly Holden Racing Team Holden 1:21.56
2 Craig Lowndes Ford Performance Racing Ford +0:00.55
3 P.Morris/A.Gurr Sirromet Holden +0:00.7562
4 Craig Baird Team Kiwi RacingHolden +0:00.75
5 C.Mcconville/G.Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden +0:01.31
6 M.Ambrose/G.Ritter Pirtek RacingFord +0:01.35
7 J.Bright/P.Weel Pwr Performance Products Holden +0:01.38
8 O.Kelly/D.Brabham Shell Helix Racing Ford +0:01.40
9 R.Kelly/G.Murphy Kmart Racing Team Holden +0:01.48
10 M.Larkham/M.Halliday Larkham Orrcon Racing Ford +0:01.66