Fullwood comfortably fastest in Super2 Practice 1

Bryce Fullwood has set the pace by more than 0.3s in Practice 1 for Round 5 of the Dunlop Super2 Series at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

Fullwood finished up with a 2:07.0684s in the #16 MW Motorsport Altima which left him 0.3456s ahead of Tickford Racing’s Thomas Randle (#5 FGX Falcon), and another 0.4820s clear of Kurt Kostecki (#55 Triple Eight VF Commodore).

Will Brown (#38 Eggleston Motorsport VF Commodore), who ended up fourth, was briefly fastest in the opening laps of the session, which was run in slightly overcast conditions.

However, the first half of the 40-minute encounter was largely a contest between Fullwood and Randle.

Fullwood’s quickest time in fact came eight laps into his 10-lap first run, which was reported to be a race simulation, and at that point had him more than 0.6s faster than Randle.

When he completed his ninth lap, the Northern Territorian was fastest in each of the Mount Panorama Motor Racing Circuit’s three sectors with three different laps.

Randle improved to a 2:07.4140s early in his second run, at which point he took the fastest first sector off Fullwood.

He would find no subsequent improvement and nor would Fullwood, despite going personal best to the first sector on a lap completed after the chequered flag.

Ironically, he also bettered his own benchmark in the third sector, meaning his fastest lap was a collection of sectors which were not his fastest.

Fullwood, Randle, and Brown were the only Pirtek Enduro Cup co-drivers out of six in the field who made the top seven.

MW Motorsport duo Tyler Everingham (#27 Altima) and Zane Goddard (#28 Altima) were fifth and sixth respectively, each just over a second off their team-mate’s pace, while Super2 returnee David Russell was seventh in the #33 Matt Stone Racing VF Commodore.

He was followed on the timesheet by team-mate Ash Walsh (#35 VF Commodore), with Jordan Boys (#49 Image Racing VF Commodore) and Jack Perkins (#54 VF Commodore) rounding out the top 10.

Jack Smith had to pit early on so that the Brad Jones Racing crew could address his inability to get full throttle from the #21 VF Commodore.

While that problem was reportedly fixed, he still brought up the rear of the 16-car field at 2.1711s from the fastest lap.

Practice 2, another 40-minute session, starts tomorrow at 1010 local time/AEDT.

Results: Practice 1