Team 18’s Scott Pye has set the fastest lap in an opening Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 practice session affected by weather and then truncated by kerb damage.
Practice 1 was red-flagged with just under seven minutes of the half-hour remaining when a piece of kerb was pulled loose from the front chicane and, with work continuing on repairs, the session was declared.
Pye ended up top with a 1:11.5577s in the #20 Hino Camaro, 0.0868s ahead of Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters (#6 Mustang), with Erebus Motorsport’s Will Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro) third.
In terms of the serious championship contenders, Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) was fourth and Erebus’s Brodie Kostecki (#99 Coca-Cola Camaro) 11th, although there was little representative running across the field.
Forecast rain arrived just as the session was about to start, at the slightly later time of 11:31 local.
The downpour was brief and Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) led the field out after almost three minutes had elapsed, with the field initially split in terms of slicks versus wets.
There was further drama when David Reynolds’ #26 Penrite Mustang blew power steering fluid as it was dispatched from the Grove Racing garage, and he would be pushed back in.
Meanwhile, the #55 and #56 Tickford Racing Mustangs of Thomas Randle and Declan Fraser respectively had both been hit by power steering pump issues.
Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang), in the chassis which Dick Johnson Racing used as its Bathurst 1000 wildcard, was first into the elevens with a 1:11.931s before he was bettered by Waters on a 1:11.822s and then Pye on that 1:11.5577s.
That was just over three tenths of a second slower than the fastest lap of the corresponding session in 2022 despite light rain still falling in parts of the circuit, and high wind.
Pye was still quickest when the red flag was called, and that would be the end of matters, meaning no scope either for the planned second Full Course Yellow trial of the day.
Earlier in the morning, Waters, Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang), and Matt Stone Racing’s Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro) were sent out for 10 minutes of running to test the proposed FCY system, with no obvious signs of drama during two cycles through it.
The top 10 in Practice 1 would be Pye, Waters on a 1:11.6445s, Brown on a 1:11.7470s, van Gisbergen on a 1:11.9035s, Davison on a 1:11.9315s, then Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro), Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang), Mostert, Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro) in ninth despite a clutch problem, and Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang).
Kostecki was 11th on a 1:12.2467s, while Reynolds would not get a chance to go back out even after the Grove crew had replaced the power steering line.
Practice 2, another half-hour session, starts at 15:30 local time/16:30 AEDT.
CLICK HERE for full Practice 1 results
