Mark Winterbottom has kicked off the 2011 Armor All Gold Coast 600 in style by topping Practice 1.
The Orrcon Steel Ford Performance Racing driver lapped the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in 1:12.46s to end the 40 minute session 0.14s faster than TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup.
Winterbottom set his time prior to the sessions only red flag, with Patrick Long stopping on the circuit with in the Bundaberg Racing Commodore.
Craig Lowndes was third fastest in the second TeamVodafone entry, while Russell Ingall (Supercheap Auto Racing) and Michael Caruso (Fujitsu Racing) rounded out the top five.
Paul Dumbrell (The Bottle-O Racing) jumped from the bottom of the time sheets to seventh on his final lap, despite being involved in a bumping match with Shane van Gisbergen just minutes prior.
Having been nudged into a slide by the SP Tools Falcon exiting the final corner, Dumbrell edged his rival towards the pit wall to show his displeasure. Both cars missed the first chicane as a result of the aggravation.
Dumbrell approached van Gisbergen after the session, but said he was disappointed with the Kiwi’s attitude.
“I don’t think I need to talk to the bloke anymore it’s a waste of my time,” said Dumbrell.
“I’ll never get those 10 seconds of my life back that I spent speaking to him so I’ll just continue on and see what I can do for the race.”
As today’s second and third practice sessions are for the international co-drivers only, the main drivers did the bulk of the work in the opening session.
Only nine of the 28 co-drivers completed any laps, with Augusto Farfus, Ryan Briscoe, Emanuele Pirro, Darren Turner, Oliver Gavin, Jorg Bergmeister, Richard Westbrook and Marino Franchitti joining Long on the circuit.
As is usually the case in practice, lap times were largely determined by the condition of each car’s pre-marked practice tyres.
Practice 2 is set to get underway at 1135 local time.
See below for the full Practice 1 result
| 1 | Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:12.4570* | |
| 2 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.5944 | 0:00.1374 |
| 3 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.7188 | 0:00.2618 |
| 4 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.7315 | 0:00.2745 |
| 5 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | M.Caruso/A.Farfus Jr | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.8240 | 0:00.3670 |
| 6 | Trading Post FPR Falcon | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 1:12.9401 | 0:00.4831 |
| 7 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Paul Dumbrell | Ford Falcon FG | 1:12.9454 | 0:00.4884 |
| 8 | Team Boc | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.9658 | 0:00.5088 |
| 9 | Toll Holden Racing Team | G.Tander/R.Briscoe | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.9957 | 0:00.5387 |
| 10 | Lucky 7 Racing | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 1:13.0224 | 0:00.5654 |
| 11 | SP Tools Racing | S.Van Gisbergen/E.Pirro | Ford Falcon FG | 1:13.0340 | 0:00.5770 |
| 12 | Bundaberg Racing | F.Coulthard/P.Long | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.1771 | 0:00.7201 |
| 13 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.2151 | 0:00.7581 |
| 14 | Stratco Racing | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.2261 | 0:00.7691 |
| 15 | Toll Holden Racing Team | J.Courtney/D.Turner | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.2278 | 0:00.7708 |
| 16 | Pepsi Max Crew | G.Murphy/O.Gavin | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.2721 | 0:00.8151 |
| 17 | VIP Petfoods | Steve Owen | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.2984 | 0:00.8414 |
| 18 | Irwin Racing | Alex Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 1:13.3396 | 0:00.8826 |
| 19 | Jana Living Racing | Jason Bargwanna | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.4247 | 0:00.9677 |
| 20 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:13.4382 | 0:00.9812 |
| 21 | Wilson Security Racing | Tony D’Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 1:13.5364 | 0:01.0794 |
| 22 | Westrac Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:13.5392 | 0:01.0822 |
| 23 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | R.Kelly/J.Bergmeister | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.6754 | 0:01.2184 |
| 24 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.7302 | 0:01.2732 |
| 25 | Mother Energy Racing Team | Jonathon Webb | Ford Falcon FG | 1:13.7955 | 0:01.3385 |
| 26 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | T.Kelly/R.Westbrook | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.9051 | 0:01.4481 |
| 27 | Gulf Western Oil Racing | W.Luff/M.Franchitti | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.9676 | 0:01.5106 |
| 28 | Jim Beam Racing | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:14.1276 | 0:01.6706 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Armor All Gold Coast 600 Race Guide
