More repairs for DJR as FPR continues form

Ford teams Dick Johnson Racing and Ford Performance Racing continued to enjoy contrasting fortunes at Mount Panorama during Friday morning practice.

Factory squad FPR ended the co-driver session atop the order thanks to the efforts of Steve Owen in Mark Winterbottom’s #5 Falcon.

Owen ran a best of 2:06.78s inside the final minute of the 45 minute hit-out to edge Brad Jones Racing’s Luke Youlden by just 0.02s.

FPR drivers have topped three of the four sessions held to date following the efforts of Chaz Mostert and David Reynolds on Thursday.

“It’s good to sit here and watch with a big smile, but it’s still Friday,” said Winterbottom after Practice 4.

“We’re still tuning away. The track will change a lot, we’ve seen it this morning as well. But it’s good to be up the front and putting the pressure on the other guys.”

Alex Premat ended the session third in Scott McLaughlin’s Volvo after briefly topping the order inside the final five minutes.

Taz Douglas was the fastest of the Nissans in fourth ahead of Dean Canto’s FPR Falcon, the second Norton Altima, driven by Dean Fiore, and the Jack Daniel’s example at the hands of Alex Buncombe.

Practice 4 was the first session to run without a red flag interruption, with the only notable drama befalling DJR’s Ash Walsh.

The #16 Wilson Security Falcon suffered cosmetic rear-end damage in an incident at The Cutting with 15 minutes remaining.

“I just turned in and lost the rear and got the wall pretty lightly. It’s cosmetic damage,” he said.

“It’s one of those things here that if you make a small error you pay for it pretty hard.”

Red Bull co-drivers Steven Richards and Paul Dumbrell sat one-two for a large portion of the session before falling to 10th and 16th respectively by the flag.

All 26 cars took to the track this morning following repair work from the Holden Racing Team and Volvo Polestar Racing on its Garth Tander/Warren Luff and Robert Dahlgren/Greg Ritter entries respectively

The final practice session prior to qualifying will kick-off at 1310 local time.

Result: V8 Supercars Practice 4, Bathurst

1

Ford Pepsi Max Crew

Steve Owen

Ford Falcon FG

02:06.78

2

Lockwood Racing

Luke Youlden

Holden Commodore VF

02:06.80

00:00.02

3

Valvoline Racing GRM

Alexandre Premat

Volvo S60

02:06.89

00:00.11

4

Norton Hornets

Taz Douglas

Nissan Altima

02:07.19

00:00.41

5

The Bottle-O Racing Team

Dean Canto

Ford Falcon FG

02:07.31

00:00.53

6

Norton Hornets

Dean Fiore

Nissan Altima

02:07.33

00:00.56

7

Jack Daniel's Racing

Alex Buncombe

Nissan Altima

02:07.34

00:00.56

8

Team JELD-WEN

Cameron Waters

Ford Falcon FG

02:07.43

00:00.65

9

Supercheap Auto Racing

Tony D'Alberto

Holden Commodore VF

02:07.52

00:00.74

10

Red Bull Racing Australia

Steven Richards

Holden Commodore VF

02:07.55

00:00.77

11

Wilson Security Racing

Steven Johnson

Ford Falcon FG

02:07.63

00:00.86

12

Repair Management Aust Racing

Tim Blanchard

Holden Commodore VF

02:07.65

00:00.87

13

Walkinshaw Racing

Oliver Gavin

Holden Commodore VF

02:07.71

00:00.93

14

Team BOC

Andrew Jones

Holden Commodore VF

02:07.83

00:01.05

15

Valvoline Racing GRM

Greg Ritter

Volvo S60

02:07.84

00:01.06

16

Red Bull Racing Australia

Paul Dumbrell

Holden Commodore VF

02:07.87

00:01.09

17

Wilson Security Racing

Ashley Walsh

Ford Falcon FG

02:08.02

00:01.25

18

Jack Daniel's Racing

David Russell

Nissan Altima

02:08.04

00:01.26

19

Team Advam/GB

Chris Pither

Holden Commodore VF

02:08.06

00:01.28

20

Holden Racing Team

Warren Luff

Holden Commodore VF

02:08.10

00:01.32

21

Holden Racing Team

Greg Murphy

Holden Commodore VF

02:08.11

00:01.33

22

Erebus Team Beko

Alex Davison

Mercedes E63 AMG

02:08.16

00:01.38

23

Super Black Racing

Andre Heimgartner

Ford Falcon FG

02:08.34

00:01.57

24

Erebus Motorsport V8

Craig Baird

Mercedes E63 AMG

02:08.41

00:01.63

25

Team Tekno VIP Petfoods

Jonathon Webb

Holden Commodore VF

02:08.54

00:01.77

26

Ford Pepsi Max Crew

Paul Morris

Ford Falcon FG

02:09.89

00:03.11