
Michael Caruso topped the times for Nissan Motorsport in the morning session of the pre-season test at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The 34-year-old, driving a brand new Altima, posted a 1:29.17s a third of the way through the three and half hour session held in hot and breezy conditions.
Teams were using various forms of tyres with 2017 softs and rubber used at Bathurst, the same specification as the new 2018 Dunlop tyres, in circulation.
Speedcafe.com understands that brand new 2018 tyres will be saved for this afternoon’s four hour session.
Nissan occupied the top two spots with Rick Kelly second quickest despite suffering a steering issue during the session that saw the car spend time in the garage.
Shell V-Power Racing’s Fabian Coulthard was third in his brand new Ford Falcon, 0.4s adrift the pace.
David Reynolds ended up fourth after his new Holden ZB Commodore lost its passenger door in the closing minutes of the session.
Erebus were able to repair the damage and returned the car to the track.
Teams used the session to cycle through co-drivers with Erebus offering track time to Luke Youlden and Will Brown.
Tickford Racing also made use of the opportunity to cycle its co-drivers as Dean Canto and new signing James Moffat cutting laps.
Moffat jumped in the #55 Tickford Ford driven by Chaz Mostert.
Jonathon Webb also logged laps in the #19 Tekno Autosports entry of Jack Le Brocq before an incident on track, which progressed into an altercation in pit-lane with Shane van Gisbergen.
Scott Pye was fifth in the Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden ahead of the Triple Eight Autobarn Commodore of Craig Lowndes.
Le Brocq emerged as the top rookie in seventh while the top 10 was completed by James Courtney (Walkinshaw Andretti United), Anton de Pasquale (Erebus Motorsport) and Will Davison in the 23Red Racing Falcon.
RESULTS: Pre-season test, morning session
| Pos | Car | Competitor/Team | Driver | Vehicle | Laps | Best |
| 1 | 23 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 30 | 1:29.179 |
| 2 | 15 | Nissan Motorsport | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 24 | 1:29.213 |
| 3 | 12 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG/X | 40 | 1:29.621 |
| 4 | 9 | Erebus Penrite Racing | D.Reynolds/L.Youlden | Holden Commodore ZB | 42 | 1:29.627 |
| 5 | 2 | Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore ZB | 50 | 1:29.644 |
| 6 | 888 | Autobarn Lowndes Racing | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore ZB | 41 | 1:29.687 |
| 7 | 19 | TEKNO Autosports | Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | 42 | 1:29.807 |
| 8 | 25 | Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing | James Courtney | Holden Commodore ZB | 29 | 1:29.937 |
| 9 | 99 | Erebus Motorsport | A.de Pasquale/W.Brown | Holden Commodore ZB | 33 | 1:30.036 |
| 10 | 230 | Milwaukee Racing | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG/X | 33 | 1:30.252 |
| 11 | 7 | Nissan Motorsport | Andre Heimgartner | Nissan Altima | 38 | 1:30.264 |
| 12 | 6 | Monster Energy Racing | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 43 | 1:30.446 |
| 13 | 33 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore ZB | 18 | 1:30.528 |
| 14 | 35 | Bigmate Racing | Todd Hazelwood | Ford Falcon FG/X | 35 | 1:30.553 |
| 15 | 17 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG/X | 36 | 1:30.572 |
| 16 | 78 | Team Harvey Norman | Simona De Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 36 | 1:30.698 |
| 17 | 5 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | M.Winterbottom/D.Canto | Ford Falcon FG/X | 45 | 1:30.843 |
| 18 | 18 | Preston Hire Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore ZB | 26 | 1:31.470 |
| 19 | 97 | Red Bull Holden Racing Aust | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore ZB | 50 | 1:31.572 |
| 20 | 14 | Freightliner Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore ZB | 47 | 1:31.589 |
| 21 | 8 | Blackwoods Racing | N.Percat/M.Jones | Holden Commodore ZB | 48 | 1:31.680 |
| 22 | 21 | CoolDrive Racing | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore ZB | 31 | 1:31.908 |
| 23 | 55 | Supercheap Auto Racing | C.Mostert/J.Moffat | Ford Falcon FG/X | 51 | 1:32.023 |
| 24 | 34 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | James Golding | Holden Commodore ZB | 38 | 1:32.061 |
| 25 | 56 | Tickford Racing | Richie Stanaway | Ford Falcon FG/X | 47 | 1:32.407 |
| 26 | 1 | Red Bull Holden Racing Aust | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore ZB | 36 | 1:32.485 |












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