It was Independence Day in Darwin on Friday but Holden's Todd Kelly is saving his fireworks for the V8 Supercar Championship sixth round at Hidden Valley.

Carrying on from his historical win in China last month, Kelly was the fastest in practice, clocking 1minute 09.5970seconds, almost two seconds slower than Jason Bright's time here three years ago.

But the defending Darwin round champion admitted he had left plenty in reserve for Saturday, not using his "green" tyres to produce the slickest possible lap.

"I did not put green tyres on and I think a lot of people would have," boasted Kelly, who believes better team preparation is behind his form surge.

"In China we learnt how to get the car set up better in the workshop. We have been too far away in the early rounds this year.

"We were always one session behind right through the whole weekend.

"Now we can pull the car out of the truck a lot closer (to race set up) ... and most of the session is just fine tuning.

"Now we have got a bit of time with the car under our belt the rest of the year should get easier."

In a two-hour qualifying session dominated by Holden, who filled four of the top five places, Gold Coast winemaker Paul Morris turned in a vintage lap to be second fastest in 1:09.6808.

A colourful character, Morris raced almost as quickly to the post-session media conference as he did on the track while the other top five drivers took the opportunity to get out of their driving suits in the sweltering 30-degree temperatures.

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