Ford driver Will Davison has conquered challenging conditions to post the fastest time in opening practice at this weekend’s Supercars event in New Zealand.

The Tickford Racing driver clocked a fastest lap of one minute and 02.4451 seconds at the 2.91km Pukekohe Park circuit on Friday in a half-hour session marred by showers.

Championship leader Scott McLaughlin, chasing a record 17th race win in 2019, was second-fastest in the session with hometown favourite Shane Van Gisbergen the quickest Holden in third.

The session started with rain hitting the track and was briefly red-flagged after Holden’s Richie Stanaway clipped a wall after losing control of his Commodore coming into the main straight.

Conditions cleared upon the restart before another shower hit just as the drivers prepared for their final laps.

Several drivers didn’t risk their cars in the greasy conditions with Penrite Racing’s David Reynolds completing one lap while Davison’s stablemates Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters also took a cautious approach.

Despite the wet weather Davison, who only completed six laps in the session, pulled off his quickest lap in the dying minutes.

“We don’t have that many slicks today so I didn’t want to take anything out of them in those greasy conditions but I knew if it just stopped raining for a minute you had to be out there to try just and get one lap,” the 23Red Racing driver told Fox Sports.

“We did that, we timed it perfectly. We got that one flyer at the end there.”

Friday’s action concludes with a second 30-minute practice session from 3.20pm (1320 AEST).

The Auckland SuperSprint will feature a 70-lap, 200km race on both Saturday and Sunday.