Brown quickest in Townsville Supercars Practice 1

Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro driver Will Brown has set the pace in Practice 1 for Supercars’ NTI Townsville 500.

Brown set an early 1:13.9706s in the #9 Coca-Cola Camaro and that effort would not be beaten for the balance of the 30-minute session at the Reid Park Street Circuit.

It was set to be an all-Camaro top four to end the session, despite recent parity changes, until the Blanchard Racing Team’s Todd Hazelwood jumped up to second with a 1:14.1906s on his final lap in the #3 CoolDrive Mustang.

While the Ford Mustangs rolled out with a new aerodynamic package following the above referenced parity review, it was Chevrolets fastest again during the first run.

That was Brown with a 1:14.2409s on his first flyer and the 1:13.9706s on his second, before Red Bull Ampol Racing duo Broc Feeney (#88 Camaro) and then Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Camaro) went to second place on a 1:14.2979s and a 1:24.2491s respectively.

Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner sat fourth in the #8 R&J Batteries Camaro on a 1:14.3300s, with David Reynolds best of the Ford contingent on a 1:14.3370s in the #26 Penrite Mustang at the end of his first run, in fifth position.

Thomas Randle pitted early with the #55 Castrol Mustang having reportedly dropped half of its eight cylinders, before he was dispatched again while most of the field sat back in the lane.

Although the track might have been expected to evolve quickly after heavy rain earlier in the week, there would be no change to the top of the timing screen for some time, with Brown going quickest to Sector 2 in the final two minutes but not improving at the Control Line.

With the chequered flag out, Hazelwood set his personal best lap and thus split Brown and van Gisbergen, the latter of whom was again complaining of handling anomalies in the #97 Camaro after apparently similar issues in the previous event of the season at Darwin’s Hidden Valley.

Fourth went to Feeney, from Heimgartner, Reynolds, Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro), Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Camaro), Macauley Jones (#96 Pizza Hut Camaro), and Scott Pye (#20 Hino Camaro) in 10th.

Drivers’ championship leader Brodie Kostecki was 11th, and he too remarked on a handling issue with the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro which he vacated before the end of the session.

Third of the Mustangs was the other Grove Racing/Penrite Racing entry of Matt Payne in Car #19, from the Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Anton De Pasquale (#11 Mustang) in 13th at 0.6185s off the pace.

Practice 2, another half-hour session, starts at 14:45 local time/15:15 AEST.

Results: Practice 1