Volvo’s Chris Pither edged Paul Dumbrell’s Red Bull Holden to the fastest time in the first of two co-driver practice sessions at the Castrol Gold Coast 600.
The duo were the only drivers to finish the session on the soft compound tyres, with Jack Perkins the first of the hard runners in third.
Pither’s best of 1:12.29s proved 0.5s slower than Scott Pye’s effort to top Practice 1 earlier in the day.
The Kiwi and primary driver David Wall are looking to avenge a disappointing Bathurst which saw an early retirement due to engine failure.
“I’m not too sure who else was on softs but at the end of the day the GRM car was spot on, and it was for the last two rounds but we didn’t get to show it,” said Pither.
“I’m really excited about the weekend ahead I think we are in pretty good shape.”
Alexandre Premat, Steve Owen, Warren Luff, Steven Richards, Alex Davison, Taz Douglas and Luke Youlden completed the top 10.
The session featured a single stoppage for debris, which came after incidents for Oliver Gavin and Macauley Jones.
Gavin ripped the left-front corner from Nick Percat’s LDM Holden when he tagged the wall at the exit of the first chicane.
“I got in too deep, got too much kerb (at Turn 2) and it put me in the wall,” said Gavin, who had been fifth fastest at the time of the incident.
“Its frustrating for the LDM guys. They have done a fantastic job they have built a quick car.
“We are very keen to get a good result here so I’m disappointed in myself for doing this, I should have known better.”
In better news for LDM, Karl Reindler cut 15 laps to end up 12th in the team’s Cooldrive entry, which missed the opening hit-out while undergoing a gearbox change.
Jones meanwhile damaged the right-side of the #21 Brad Jones Racing Holden against the barriers at the exit of the back chicane, but managed to complete the session following a trip to pitlane.
Practice 2 saw Russell Ingall have his first run aboard the #6 Pepsi Perfect Ford, ending the 30 minutes 20th on the time sheets.
Result: V8 Supercars Practice 2 (Co-drivers only), Surfers Paradise
1 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Chris Pither | Volvo S60 | 1:12.2857 | |
2 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Paul Dumbrell | Holden Commodore VF | 1:12.3865 | 00.1008 |
3 | Holden Racing Team | Jack Perkins | Holden Commodore VF | 1:12.3967 | 00.1110 |
4 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Volvo S60 | 1:12.6140 | 00.3283 |
5 | Pepsi Max Crew | Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:12.6269 | 00.3412 |
6 | Holden Racing Team | Warren Luff | Holden Commodore VF | 1:12.6357 | 00.3500 |
7 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Steven Richards | Holden Commodore VF | 1:12.6574 | 00.3717 |
8 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Alex Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:12.6701 | 00.3844 |
9 | Nissan Motorsport | Taz Douglas | Nissan Altima | 1:12.6883 | 00.4026 |
10 | Freightliner Racing | Luke Youlden | Holden Commodore VF | 1:12.8248 | 00.5391 |
11 | Nissan Motorsport | David Russell | Nissan Altima | 1:12.8528 | 00.5671 |
12 | Team Cooldrive | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VF | 1:12.8952 | 00.6095 |
13 | Nissan Motorsport | Alex Buncombe | Nissan Altima | 1:12.9213 | 00.6356 |
14 | Team Darrell Lea STIX | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VF | 1:12.9826 | 00.6969 |
15 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Oliver Gavin | Holden Commodore VF | 1:13.0358 | 00.7501 |
16 | DJR Team Penske | Marcos Ambrose | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:13.0664 | 00.7807 |
17 | Nissan Motorsport | Dean Fiore | Nissan Altima | 1:13.1130 | 00.8273 |
18 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Dean Canto | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:13.1155 | 00.8298 |
19 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tony D’Alberto | Holden Commodore VF | 1:13.1576 | 00.8719 |
20 | Pepsi Max Crew | Russell Ingall | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:13.3613 | 01.0756 |
21 | Walkinshaw Racing | Sebastien Bourdais | Holden Commodore VF | 1:13.5526 | 01.2669 |
22 | Team BOC | Andrew Jones | Holden Commodore VF | 1:13.8057 | 01.5200 |
23 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Jack Le Brocq | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:14.1204 | 01.8347 |
24 | GB Galvanizing Racing | Macauley Jones | Holden Commodore VF | 1:14.1799 | 01.8942 |
25 | Super Black Racing | Ant Pedersen | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:14.9500 | 02.6643 |