Lee Holdsworth has topped the opening practice session at Sydney Motorsport Park this morning.
The IRWIN Racing driver, competing in a special ‘Thank a Tradie’ livery, set a blistering time of 1:30.7673s on his final fast lap of the 30 minute session, eclipsing the early benchmark time of Craig Lowndes.
Holdsworth’s time, set on a old practice set of soft tyres, was marginally shy of the qualifying lap record, set by Mark Skaife in 1999.
The TeamVodafone driver set his fastest time on his first flying lap, with no one able to match it until Holdsworth popped in his fast time.
Lowndes’s title leading team-mate Jamie Whincup finished the session third, ahead of Ford Performance Racing’s Will Davison.
Fair Dinkum Sheds driver Karl Reindler surprised the front-runners with a late quick lap on soft Dunlop rubber, good enough for an encouraging fifth.
Orrcon Steel FPR’s Mark Winterbottom was sixth ahead of Russell Ingall, Steve Johnson, Garth Tander and Jason Bright.
The second practice session will be held at 1120.
Results, Practice 1
| 1 | Irwin Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Ford Falcon FG | 1:30.7673R | |
| 2 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:31.0290 | 0:00.2617 |
| 3 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:31.3342 | 0:00.5669 |
| 4 | Trading Post FPR Ford | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 1:31.4951 | 0:00.7278 |
| 5 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:31.5255 | 0:00.7582 |
| 6 | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:31.5555 | 0:00.7882 |
| 7 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:31.7624 | 0:00.9951 |
| 8 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:31.8107 | 0:01.0434 |
| 9 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:31.8894 | 0:01.1221 |
| 10 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:31.9291 | 0:01.1618 |
| 11 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:31.9535 | 0:01.1862 |
| 12 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:31.9643 | 0:01.1970 |
| 13 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:31.9828 | 0:01.2155 |
| 14 | Team Hiflex | Tony D’Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.0332 | 0:01.2659 |
| 15 | SP Tools Racing | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.1379 | 0:01.3706 |
| 16 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.2579 | 0:01.4906 |
| 17 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.2817 | 0:01.5144 |
| 18 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.3163 | 0:01.5490 |
| 19 | Team iSelect | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.4121 | 0:01.6448 |
| 20 | Lucky 7 Racing | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.4284 | 0:01.6611 |
| 21 | Team Norton DJR | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.4383 | 0:01.6710 |
| 22 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.4481 | 0:01.6808 |
| 23 | VIP Petfoods | Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.6023 | 0:01.8350 |
| 24 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.6248 | 0:01.8575 |
| 25 | Tekno Autosports | Michael Patrizi | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.6699 | 0:01.9026 |
| 26 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:32.6942 | 0:01.9269 |
| 27 | Jim Beam Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:32.9087 | 0:02.1414 |
| 28 | Pepsi Max Crew | Jaques Villeneuve | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:33.5098 | 0:02.7425 |
Results, Practice 1 See below for Speedcafe.com’s Sydney Motorsport Park 360 Race Guide.
