Grove Racing’s David Reynolds has edged Todd Hazelwood to top spot in the sole, 90-minute practice session for the Repco Supercars Championship field at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint.
Reynolds set a final-minute 0:54.5285s in the #26 Penrite Mustang which was enough to better the Blanchard Racing Team’s Todd Hazelwood by 0.0348s.
Championship leader Brodie Kostecki ended up third at 0.1501s off the pace around the 2.42km Wanneroo Raceway despite an early technical drama for Erebus Motorsport’s #99 Camaro.
Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton De Pasquale and Team 18’s Mark Winterbottom rounded out the top five, with PremiAir Racing’s James Golding, Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner, and Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert making for eight different teams in a top eight covered by 0.2297s.
At Triple Eight Race Engineering, Broc Feeney finished 11th-fastest while Shane van Gisbergen was 14th with a 0:54.8893s late in the session, after which he raised an issue with his gear lever and said he could not figure out his brake bias settings.
Back at the start of the session at a sunny Wanneroo, Winterbottom was quickest on the first flying laps with a 0:56.5620s in the #600 DeWalt Camaro, in a nod to the milestone start he is set to notch up tomorrow in Race 7.
De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) moved the marker to a 0:55.6142s next time around and van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) a 0:55.3948s a lap later again, with the latter still on top when a red flag was called in the 10th minute in order for officials to reposition the data beacon.
The session had not long got going again when another red flag was called in order to extricate Macauley Jones from the Turn 7 sand trap after he had beached the #96 Pizza Hut Camaro.
His BR team-mate Heimgartner had earlier transited the sand trap at ‘Kolb Corner’ (Turn 6) and was sitting 23rd-fastest before he laid down a 0:55.0685s in the #8 R&J Batteries Camaro to jump to the top just before the 40-minute mark.
Moments later, Matt Stone Racing’s Cameron Hill (#35 Truck Assist Camaro) triggered a red flag when he spun into the sand trap at Kolb.
A green flag flew again in the 48th minute, the clock having started to count down during the reds, and Will Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro) soon moved to second place on a 0:55.1800s, although the latter was usurped minutes later by rookie Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang) on a 0:55.1607s.
Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) jumped to the very top on a 0:54.8773s with just over half an hour to go although he held bragging rights for barely a minute until Kostecki (#99 Coca-Cola Camaro), who missed opening minutes with brake master cylinder seal issue, set a 0:54.7037s.
Less than half a tenth of a second covered the top four when Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro) clocked a 0:54.7474s and then Reynolds a 0:54.7075s before Winterbottom split those two on a 0:54.7353s.
With less than six minutes to go, De Pasquale was back on top by a margin of just 0.0122s when he set a 0:54.6915s, and Kostecki was quickest by 0.0129s when he went 0:54.6786s with two minutes to go.
Hazelwood (#3 CoolDrive Mustang) clocked a 0:54.5633s in the final two minutes before Reynolds set the fastest lap of the afternoon.
Rounding out the top 10 were Reynolds’ team-mate Payne and Tickford Racing’s James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang), who may have been baulked by van Gisbergen on a late hot lap, while Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) was 0.2756s off the pace in 11th.
Qualifying for Race 7 of the session starts tomorrow at 11:10 local time/13:10 AEST.
Full Perth practice session results here.
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