Davison sets pace in Supercars Practice 1 on Gold Coast

Will Davison has edged Shane van Gisbergen to top spot in Practice 1 for the Repco Supercars Championship field at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 by 0.0188s.

Van Gisbergen had been top for the majority of the half-hour session before the man in the #17 Shell V-Power Mustang clocked a 1:11.2213s with the chequered flag out.

Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters ended up third at a quarter of a second off the pace, from Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert and Team 18’s Mark Winterbottom.

Hot and sunny conditions prevailed as the field rolled out onto the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit for the first time in three years, with soft tyres being the slick compound in play this weekend.

This year’s Great Race winner, van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore), was fastest at the end of the first runs on a 1:11.2401s while Lee Holdsworth (#10 Penrite Mustang) sat fourth on a 1:11.8201s after reportedly escaping damage when he scraped the wall at the Beach Chicane.

Van Gisbergen went close to moving the marker on his second run, clocking a 1:11.2956s.

Then, on his third and final run, he once again reset the fastest second sector but tripped the control line in a time of 1:11.2531s.

Davison soon moved up to second on a 1:11.4096s with his last lap before the chequered flag, then went quicker again next time around.

Waters’ best lap in the #6 Monster Energy Mustang was an early 1:11.4790s while Mostert set a late 1:11.5147s in the #25 Mobil 1 Optus ZB Commodore and Winterbottom drove the #18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore as quickly as a 1:11.5274s.

Rounding out the top 10 were David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang) from Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI ZB Commodore), Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang), Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore), and Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist ZB Commodore).

Holdsworth ended up 12th on his first-run 1:11.8201s, while Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore) was classified 21st on a 1:12.4460s.

Practice 2, another half-hour session, starts this afternoon at 15:15 local time/16:15 AEDT.

Results: Practice 1