Rick Kelly has topped the time sheets in the first of four practice sessions for the V8 Supercars in Townsville today.
The Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore driver recorded a best time of 1:14.02s as the chequered flag fell on the session, contested by endurance co-drivers and regular drivers in the bottom 50 percent of the championship.
James Moffat was 0.48s adrift in second after a similarly late effort, while Steven Richards, Steve Owen and Cameron McConville rounded out the top five.
Nick Percat ended the 30 minutes sixth after spending much of the first half at the top of the order. Percat had also set the pace in the morning’s earlier Dunlop Series practice session.
The session was punctuated by a single red flag period after Karl Reindler parked his Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Commodore at the entry to Turn 7 with a loose oil fitting. The car returned to the circuit to complete a total of eight laps.
The SP Tools Racing Falcon was lucky to escape without damage following a high-speed spin from Luke Youlden at Turn 5, while fellow Ford drivers Dean Canto and Dale Wood were among others to visit the grass.
Greg Murphy-substitute Jacques Villenueve completed a quiet 15 laps in the Pepsi Max Crew Commodore to end the session at the tail of the field with a best time of 1:17.70s.
See below for the full Practice 1 times
| 1 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:14.0163 | |
| 2 | Team Norton DJR | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:14.4972 | 0:00.4809 |
| 3 | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Steven Richards | Ford Falcon FG | 1:14.4986 | 0:00.4823 |
| 4 | VIP Petfoods | S.Owen/P.Morris | Ford Falcon FG | 1:14.5010 | 0:00.4847 |
| 5 | Holden Racing Team | Cameron McConville | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:14.5139 | 0:00.4976 |
| 6 | Holden Racing Team | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:14.6009 | 0:00.5846 |
| 7 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:14.7355 | 0:00.7192 |
| 8 | Jim Beam Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:14.8032 | 0:00.7869 |
| 9 | TeamVodafone | Paul Dumbrell | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:14.8095 | 0:00.7932 |
| 10 | TeamVodafone | Warren Luff | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.0073 | 0:00.9910 |
| 11 | Supercheap Auto Racing | R.Ingall/C.Klien | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.0131 | 0:00.9968 |
| 12 | Tekno Autosports | Scott McLaughlin | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.0933 | 0:01.0770 |
| 13 | Team BOC | Andrew Jones | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.2943 | 0:01.2780 |
| 14 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.4123 | 0:01.3960 |
| 15 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Dean Canto | Ford Falcon FG | 1:15.4351 | 0:01.4188 |
| 16 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.4635 | 0:01.4472 |
| 17 | Team iSelect | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.4813 | 0:01.4650 |
| 18 | Tekno Autosports | Jonny Reid | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.5812 | 0:01.5649 |
| 19 | Lockwood Racing | David Besnard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.7191 | 0:01.7028 |
| 20 | Trading Post FPR Ford | John McIntyre | Ford Falcon FG | 1:15.7510 | 0:01.7347 |
| 21 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.7635 | 0:01.7472 |
| 22 | Team Hiflex | T.D’Alberto/D.Wood | Ford Falcon FG | 1:16.0102 | 0:01.9939 |
| 23 | SP Tools Racing | Luke Youlden | Ford Falcon FG | 1:16.0403 | 0:02.0240 |
| 24 | Lucky 7 Racing | Andrew Thompson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:16.2779 | 0:02.2616 |
| 25 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:16.3004 | 0:02.2841 |
| 26 | Irwin Racing | Craig Baird | Ford Falcon FG | 1:16.3540 | 0:02.3377 |
| 27 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Greg Ritter | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:16.5260 | 0:02.5097 |
| 28 | Pepsi Max Crew | Jaques Villeneuve | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:17.6976 | 0:03.6813 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Sucrogen Townsville 400 Race Guide
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Race Guide for the British Grand Prix, which is also taking place this weekend
