Bates sets pace despite Townsville Super2 practice clash

The Walkinshaw Andretti United driver, who won the most recent race of the season, had set a 1:14.8631s shortly after the session restarted from its single red flag period.

With about 12 minutes remaining, he and Fiore made side-to-side contact when they converged on Turn 11 of the Reid Park Street Circuit, Bates having gone down the inside of the #111 S550 Mustang.

Both pressed on initially but the #25 WAU ZB Commodore would spend the final 11 minutes of the 40-minute session in pit lane, although it is not known if that was strategic or due to damage.

Bates’ time nevertheless remained the benchmark for the duration, with series leader Kai Allen likewise staying second at 0.0650s off the pace in the #1 Eggleston Motorsport ZB Commodore in opening practice for Round 3.

Overcast skies had greeted the field and Jobe Stewart (#99 Erebus Motorsport ZB Commodore) kicked things off with a 1:17.1792s before Bates clocked a 1:15.3931s next time around and a 1:14.9329s immediately after that.

A red flag was called in the seventh minute to recover the #17 Anderson Motorsport S550 Mustang after Max Vidau ran into the tyre barrier at Turn 8 with a jammed throttle.

When the session restarted five minutes later, Bates went slightly quicker again with a 1:14.8631s, before Allen moved up to second on a 1:14.9281s.

They remained the top two at the halfway mark, with Cameron Crick (#38 Eggleston ZB Commodore) third on a 1:14.9701s, from newly announced Matt Chahda Motorsport enduro driver Brad Vaughan (#5 Tickford Racing S550 Mustang) on a 1:14.9819s, and Cooper Murray (#88 Eggleston ZB Commodore) on a 1:15.2333s.

Fiore has joined AIM Motorsport for the weekend in order to amass some Supercars mileage before the enduros and, minutes after his incident with Bates, his team-mate Zane Morse (#11 S550 Mustang) spun on his own at Turn 13.

Despite all but three – Bates, Murray, and Vidau – being on-track in the final minutes of the session, there were no advances on the earlier times.

The top five thus remained Bates, Allen, Crick, Vaughan, and Murray, from Jack Perkins (#79 Blanchard Racing Team S550 Mustang), Jordyn Sinni (#54 Eggleston ZB Commodore), Lochie Dalton (#6 Tickford S550 Mustang), Stewart, and Campbell Logan (#2 WAU ZB Commodore).

Kelly Racing’s Aaron Cameron, who is second in the series, ended up 11th at 1.0303s off the pace in the #27 S550 Mustang.

Practice 2 at the NTI Townsville 500 starts today at 13:15 local time/AEST.

Results: Practice 1