Courtney leads home Ford domination

Ford has dominated the opening practice session for round seven of the V8 Supercar championship at Queensland Raceway, with James Courtney leading home a procession of five Falcons.

Stone Brothers Racing's Courtney topped the timesheets - consistently quick for the entire three hours of practice and clocking a 1minute 10.7210 fastest lap.

Courtney finished well clear of Ford Performance Racing's Steven Richards (1:10.8965) and series leader Mark Winterbottom (1:10.9192).

In a reasonably uneventful session, the first five cars home were Fords - Russell Ingall the first Holden home in sixth place.

Series third-placed Jamie Whincup was 14th fastest in his Falcon, while another championship chaser - Holden's Rick Kelly - struggled for pace and finished 20th.

Winterbottom holds a 70-point championship lead over Holden's Garth Tander going into qualifying and the first of three races on Saturday.