Campbell edges Slade in Pro-Am practice

Carrera Cup young gun Matt Campbell edged V8 Supercars star Tim Slade for the quickest time in Friday practice at Porsche’s Rennsport Pro-Am.

The day saw three 30 minute practice sessions, with the morning’s all-in hit-out followed by separate running for the Amateurs and then Professionals.

Twenty-one-year-old Campbell proved the quickest of the Pros in the final session, clocking a 1:30.41s to displace Dean Fiore from the top of the order by 0.5s with 10 minutes remaining.

Slade was the best of the late improvers, falling just 0.07s adrift of the McElrea Racing driver in second.

David Wall, Steven Richards and Nick McBride also logged late flyers to bump Fiore to an eventual sixth.

Shane van Gisbergen, David Reynolds, Alex Davison and Garth Tander completed the top 10, with Nick Percat 11th.

Promisingly for Campbell and Slade, their respective co-drivers Geoff Emery and Adrian Mastronardo recorded the two quickest times in the Am session.

The duo was followed by James Bergmuller (co-driving with Tander), Tony Bates (with Reynolds) and Shane Smollen (with Percat).

Campbell ended the day highly encouraged by the speed shown by both himself and Emery.

“These cars suit this track so well, I’m really enjoying it and already looking forward to qualifying,” he said.

“With the format this weekend it’s going to be a real team effort and Geoff is doing a fantastic job. I couldn’t have a better bloke sharing the car with me.”

Both sessions saw a mix of pre-marked and brand new rubber on track, with several electing to give fresh tyres to the Ams rather than saving them for the final session.

“The new set of bags gives about 1.5 seconds around here, which we saw with Sladey when he put his tyres on,” explained Lee Holdsworth, who ended up 16th aboard Stephen Grove’s entry.

“We were running on the set that Stephen ran his session on, so we’re not too stressed. I’m looking forward to the new tyre tomorrow.”

Practice 1 pace-setter Ash Walsh ended up down in 19th thanks to trouble with his Bob Jane T-Marts entry.

“We had an issue where the engine was just dying under brakes,” he said.

“We went to do a run on greens but couldn’t put a time in with the problem.”

Separate qualifying sessions will be held tomorrow for the Pro and Am drivers, with the aggregate times used to determine the grid for the opening 60 minute race.

Result: Porsche Carrera Cup Australia – Practice 3- Pro Drivers

Result: Porsche Carrera Cup Australia – Practice 2- Am Drivers

VIDEO: Matt Campbell and Geoff Emery speak after practice