Heimgartner tops first Taupo practice, Wood draws red flag

The #2 Ford Mustang driver suffered what appeared to be broken steering after brushing a tyre bundle at the chicane. The session was subsequently red-flagged with a minute and a half to go.

That meant pace-setter Andre Heimgartner remained at the top of the pile for Brad Jones Racing, continuing his form from a year ago. His sixth lap of the session, a 1:26.8830s, was unchallenged.

“It wasn’t too bad for us, luckily we rolled out and the car wasn’t too bad,” said Heimgartner.

“Car feels good, I feel pretty clear on what we need and the direction we’re going, but it’s still early obviously.

“Great to roll out fastest at home track, so hopefully it keeps going. We’re all pretty relaxed. We came with a good game plan this weekend so it seems to be going well.

“I noticed straight away you’re braking deeper, carrying more speed in places we weren’t like last year. For sure, it’s different. The weather I think is going to be sunny all weekend – touch wood.

“We’ll see how that plays out. There’s obviously track evolution and all that sort of stuff we have to adjust for. So far, whatever we’ve rolled out with seems to suit this new tyre.”

Team 18’s Anton De Pasquale wound up second for a Chevrolet Camaro one-two, just 0.025s away from the Kiwi.

Matt Payne was third for Penrite Racing ahead of Cameron Hill, Wood, Chaz Mostert, Brodie Kostecki, Broc Feeney, Richie Stanaway, and Will Brown.

The session was punctuated by several off-track moments as drivers got to grips with the multi-surface Taupo track.

Notably, the Triple Eight Race Engineering duo utilised the Turn 9 run-off.

Brown’s #1 Camaro looked noticeably tough to tame, and moments after sliding through the grass at Turn 9 he shook his head.

Brown wound up 0.475s off Heimgartner’s session-best lap while Feeney was 0.366s away.

Macauley Jones spent the lion’s share of the session stuck in the pit lane with an engine sensor issue and cut just eight laps on his way to 21st.

Rookies Kai Allen, Aaron Cameron, and Cooper Murray were 22nd, 23rd, and 24th for Grove Racing, the Blanchard Racing Team, and Erebus Motorsport respectively.

Practice 2 is scheduled for 12:30pm AEST.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship ITM Taupo Super440 Practice 1, Taupo Motorsport Park