Kelly Racing has elected to conduct an engine change on Andre Heimgartner’s Nissan Altima prior to Practice 2 at the WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint.
The squad has diagnosed an issue with the water pressure in the engine of Car #7 during opening practice at the Victorian circuit.
While understood not to have affected performance, as Heimgartner finished 15th fastest in Practice 1, the team has chosen to make an engine switch in between sessions.
Heimgartner had also suffered from an engine misfire during last weekend’s Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint.
“It’s something we’ve seen in the past and something we’ll probably keep seeing,” team manager Scott Sinclair told Speedcafe.com.
“We’re just been managing it so it’s probably got to the point now where we needed to change it over. (It’s) a straight swap, no dramas and off we go again.
“No stress there (about not being ready for Practice 2).
“It wasn’t a performance drama, it was just leaking a bit, we were just using a bit too much water.”
Meanwhile, Rick Kelly ended up as the top Nissan having finished third fastest in opening practice.
The #15 Castrol backed Altima scored two podiums at the circuit last year.
Practice 2 is set to begin at 1510 local time/AEST.