Championship leader John Bowe looks set to dominate round four of the Touring Car Masters at Queensland Raceway after topping both of today’s practice sessions.
Bowe, driving a Ford Mustang, had no problems getting up to speed around the 3.12km Ipswich circuit, setting the overall fastest lap of 1:18.4306s in opening practice.
Both sessions proved to be closely fought with Bowe a mere two tenths quicker than the Holden Torana of James Gomersall in P1 and Les Walmsley’s Holden HQ Monaro in P2.
Only a second covered the top eight in an which should indicate that this weekend’s races will be hotly contested.
Bowe’s championship rival Jim Richards was unable to match the series leader in both practice sessions finishing sixth and seventh fastest respectively.
In the Aussie Racing Car Series, Nathan Townsend topped a crowded free practice session which saw 39 cars take to the track.
The Queenslander set his personal best in the dying minutes of the session eclipsing New South Wales‘ Trent Young, who had been in charge for the majority of the 20 minute stint.
Townsend’s best lap was just 0.1388s quicker than Young with Uebergang Racing’s Adam Uebergang in third.
Championship leader Adam Gowans didn’t take part in the session while his nearest rival Maurice Masini showed strong pace with the fourth fastest time.
Ben Grice, son of Bathurst legend Allan Grice, just missed out on the top 10, claiming 12th fastest after receiving a late call up in the Finance EZI car.
Macauley Jones was the class of the field in the Australian Formula Ford Championship as he set the fastest time overall from today’s two free practice sessions.
The son of V8 Supercar team owner Brad Jones set a time of 1:04.3250s in free practice one which was less than a tenth of a second quicker than the Spectrum of South Australian Sam Power.
Queensland’s Liam Sager was third fastest just a tenth further back with only 1.6s covering the 14-car field.
Free Practice two saw fractionally slower times produced and it was Power who topped the timesheets.
Jones was four hundredths slower ahead of Sager in third once again.
