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Thursday’s first practice got underway on a slowly drying track, with rain overnight and in the morning clearing in time for a dry line to appear just prior to the session. Stepping out of the tram-tracks proved treacherous, with Cameron Waters in the #6 Tickford Mustang and Craig Lowndes in the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodore taking early excursions off-track after straying off line.

The first run of laps saw lap times almost reach last year’s opening practice, with series leader Shane Van Gisbergen setting the early pace in the #97 Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodore, reaching a 2:05.3 as the track continued to improve. He was followed by reigning Bathurst champion Chaz Mostert in the #25 Walkinshaw Andretti United Commodore, and the leading Mustang in the form of Will Davison in the #17 Dick Johnson Racing machine.

The second runs were delayed due to a red flag to extract the #6 Tickford Racing Mustang from the gravel trap at Murray’s Corner. Cam Waters locked the rears into the final corner, which sent him wide, coming to a gentle stop in the gravel without hitting the wall.

The session was restarted after a quick turnaround, and the pace continued to build; with 20 minutes remaining in the session, 15 of the 28 cars were within a second of the lead, with David Reynolds in the #26 Grove Racing Commodore setting the pace with a 2:05.2. The final runs kicked off in the last 10 minutes; Will Davison laying down the marker with a 2:04.3691 in the #17 Dick Johnson Racing Mustang to gap the field by 8 tenths. He was joined in the 2:04.3’s by James Golding in the #31 PremiAir Racing Commodore, with Andre Heimgartner putting the #8 Brad Jones Racing Commodore into the 4’s as well.

A red flag brought the session to a premature end, with many drivers unable to complete hot laps at the end of the session. Jake Kostecki was the culprit; the #56 Tickford Racing Mustang running wide at Hell Corner and beached in the gravel.

David Reynolds didn’t improve from his 2:05 and finished the session in 4th, with the #2 of Nick Percat driving for Walkinshaw Andretti United in 5th. The top 10 was completed by the pair of Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodores, the #97 of Shane Van Gisbergen ahead of Broc Feeney in the #88, followed by the sister cars to the front runners; Anton De Pasquale in the #100 Dick Johnson Racing Mustang, Chaz Mostert in the #25 Walkinshaw Andretti United Commodore, and Lee Holdsworth in the #10 Grove Racing Mustang.

While most teams had a trouble-free session, there were a few who ran into mechanical issues or suffered run-ins with the walls around Mount Panorama. The #4 Brad Jones Racing Commodore of Jack Smith suffered a flapping front splitter, with broadcast cameras catching the entire front end of the Commodore shuddering at high speed on approach to the Chase. A change of front end looked to rectify the issue. The #51 Erebus Motorsport wildcard entry of Richie Stanaway and Greg Murphy ended the session in the garage due to a broken starter motor.

Of more concern was a tag of the wall for both Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 Triple Eight Race Engineering car, followed less than a minute later by a moment for Anton De Pasquale in the #100 Dick Johnson Racing car. Van Gisbergen overstepped the mark at Reid Park, sliding all the way to the kerb as the rear stepped out. After catching the slide, he nosed the left front tyre into the concrete under the tree. While there was initially concern that he may have broken an upright, the car was inspected and sent out without substantial repairs.

SVG has hit the wall at Sulman Park #RepcoSC #Bathurst1000 pic.twitter.com/4GROJSKJ66

De Pasquale’s incident only seconds later occurred heading into Forrest Elbow. Anton carried slightly too much speed through the chute, stepping the car off line in the braking zone for the Elbow, locking the front, then the rears on the damp track. Remarkably, he managed to pirouette the car twice, only just tagging the tyre barrier with the rear wing, and continued around to the pits. A rear deck change was the only necessary repairs.

NOT THE NEW LIVERY 😱

Anton spins at Forrest’s Elbow! #RepcoSC #Bathurst1000 pic.twitter.com/NCvLZeZLn5

A number of teams elected to run their co-driver through part of the session; David Russell, Jack Perkins and Greg Murphy each got laps in their respective Erebus Motorsport machines, while Garth Tander had the final stint in the #97 after van Gisbergen’s moment. Fabian Coulthard, Jayden Ojeda, Zane Goddard and Tyler Everingham were the other co-drivers to be given a drive ahead of the co-drive only Practice 2 later today.

With the predicted rain not arriving during the day, the Co-Driver only Practice 2 saw improved track conditions compared to the morning session. However, the session was suspended only 5 minutes in to retrieve the #56 Tickford Racing Mustang from the gravel; Kurt Kostecki running deep at The Chase and skirting through the sodden grass into the gravel trap.

After a short delay, the session was restarted, and immediately the marker was placed by Garth Tander in the #97 Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodore. His first flying lap, a 2:04.1359, was over two tenths faster than the fastest time in Practice 1, and over a second faster than his co-driver Shane Van Gisbergen.

David Russell was the next driver to drop into the 4’s, setting a 4.2379 in the #99 Erebus Motorsport Commodore. He finished the session in second, with Jamie Whincup in the #88 Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodore rounding out the top 3 with a 4.4.

The middle part of the session saw most of the teams working on long run pace, looking to give the co-drivers confidence and comfort in the cars while the conditions remained dry. Jayden Ojeda in the #35 Matt Stone Racing Commodore clocked the most laps in the session with 22, with Zane Goddard in the #5 Tickford Mustang, Alex Davison in the #17 Dick Johnson Racing Mustang, and Jaxon Evans in the #4 Brad Jones Racing Commodore racking up 21 laps apiece.

The session was interrupted once again to extract a car from the gravel at the chase with 10 minutes remaining. Veteran co-driver Warren Luff in the #2 Walkinshaw Andretti United Commodore nicked the white line while braking for The Chase, locking both front wheels and ending up deep in the gravel trap.

The restart with 5 minutes left gave the opportunity for the co-drivers to have a one-lap dash at a quick lap. The #96 Brad Jones Racing Commodore in the hands of Jordan Boys and Matt Campbell in the #26 Grove Racing Mustang set their quick laps at the end of the session, completing the top 5, with Zane Goddard putting the #5 Tickford Mustang also in the 2.04’s in 6th place. The top 10 was completed by Zac Best (#5 Tickford Mustang), Fabian Coulthard (#25 Walkinshaw Andretti United Commodore), Aaron Seton (#34 Matt Stone Racing Commodore), and James Moffat (#6 Tickford Racing). The spread across the field is minimal, with 7th all the way down to 22nd setting a lap in the 2:05’s.

Matt Payne in the #10 Grove Racing Mustang was the top rookie for most of the session, setting a 2:05.5160. He elected to sit out the last flurry of laps, dropping from the top 10 to 15th place. Aaron Seton ended the session as the top rookie, setting a 2:05.09 to finish in 9th place. A fascinating side-show to the main action was the progress of the #51 of Greg Murphy, as the host broadcaster revealed that Murphy had not set a lap faster than his legendary Lap Of The Gods in the shootout of the 2003 event, despite numerous entries after the fact. Murphy bettered the 2:06.8 marker midway through the session, commenting ‘that’s the fastest I’ve ever been around the mountain!’ over the team radio. Murphy ended the session with a 2:05.87, in 22nd place.

Supercars action returns tomorrow from 9:40am AEDT (UTC+11) with Practice 3, followed by Practice 4 at 12:30pm. The day finishes with a 40 minute qualifying session at 3:45pm, setting the grid from 11th down and setting the Top 10 for the shootout. Inclement weather is predicted for the rest of the weekend, so it remains to be seen how the dry-run pace will translate for the rest of the weekend.

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by Graham Goodwin 9 October 2022 0 Comments

by Graham Goodwin 8 October 2022 0 Comments

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