Ferrari fastest as crashes overshadow GT practice at Darwin

The series enjoyed five hours of track time – albeit interrupted – with two hours of paid practice preceding the official practice sessions.

Shane Smollen was the first driver to fall victim to Turn 11 in the Bronze Practice, crashing his #56 Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG into the tyre wall

Smollen made a precautionary visit to the local hospital due to an irregular heartbeat and did not return to the circuit on Friday afternoon. He is expected to race on Saturday with co-driver Oscar Targett.

The second driver to crash was Paul Stokell in the #24 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS.

The Smollen/Targett car missed Bronze Practice fixed in time for the start of Free Practice 2. The Stokell/Matt Stoupas car was still undergoing repairs during Free Practice 2.

The quickest times of the day came during the final hitout in the coolest conditions.

Josh Buchan blazed a 1:04.71411s in the #23 Zagame Autosport Ferrari 296 at the death to end the day on top with co-driver Cameron Campbell.

“Big day up here,” said Buchan.

“We had five sessions in the end for the hottest track all year. It’s nice not to have any rain in GT.

“We had a program that we stuck to. Track probably did some stuff we didn’t think it would do, but to end of the day quickest – it’s only practice, but it’s a nice reward for the boys.

“They’ve swung some spammers pretty hard. We’ve worn some tools out. So yeah, we’ll be looking for a tool supplier at the end of this weekend, I reckon.

“Everyone thinks there are games being played. There’s usually a lot less than what there are.

“People talk about BOP, but look, every car gets a weekend. Our car was competitive at Queensland, but probably didn’t show for it.

“It’s still competitive here, but so is the Audi. Mercedes, their driver lineup is too good not to be in the fight, particularly with the combinations that they’ve got there.

“Whether you’re the fastest or not, I don’t necessarily think we’ll make a difference come the finish line.”

Asked whether cooler conditions on Friday evening would affect what Saturday morning’s qualifying looked like, Buchan said he was interested to see how the pace translated.

“That was a bit of a quality cloud, wasn’t it? That was prime time,” said Buchan, who ran a new set of tyres.

“I’d like it to be like that. If we could just rinse and repeat that session, that would be good.

“It’s warm here. When I got out of bed at six-thirty this morning. I’m unsure. I can’t control the weather. I’ve tried. It doesn’t work. This year has not been good for us for weather.

“It’s nice to have a fast car. I’m sure we’ll be in the fight tomorrow and as long as I can do the best job I can, then I’ll be happy.”

Ferrari and Audi ruled the roost with the top eight occupied by the two marques.

Ryan Wood was second-fastest in the #88 Team BRM Audi R8 he shares with Steve Brooks while Arise Racing GT pair Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte were third in the #26 Ferrari 296.

Tigani Motorsport’s Mercedes-AMG trio were ninth, 10th and 11th – between nine tenths and 1.1s adrift of the top time.

Results: GT World Challenge Australia Hidden Valley, Free Practice 1

Results: GT World Challenge Australia Hidden Valley, Bronze Practice

Results: GT World Challenge Australia Hidden Valley, Free Practice 2