Courtney tops bruising opening Adelaide 500 practice

Blanchard Racing Team Ford veteran Courtney sprung a 1:19.6835s effort with the chequered flag flying on the 30-minute session to deny David Reynolds by 0.1553s.

Team 18 driver Reynolds had set his time just eight-minutes into the session and did not improve in subsequent runs.

Nick Percat, Will Davison and Chaz Mostert were among late improvers to fill third through fifth, while championship leader Will Brown ended up sixth.

Brodie Kostecki was seventh despite missing the end of the session following damage incurred through contact with the Turn 1 tyre bundle.

“I’ve done myself a mischief. I tried to do my best Cam Waters impersonation at Gold Coast,” quipped the reigning champion.

Anton De Pasquale’s Mustang incurred the most damage, the bodywork ripped from its left-front corner by the troublesome tyre stack.

A single red flag – called at the halfway point – was also the result of the bundle; Percat’s lower grille dislodged by a hit and landing on the circuit.

Grill said bye bye 👋

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Speaking after the session, Reynolds noted that the trouble at Turn 1 was largely the result of drivers trying to avoid a kerb strike at Turn 2.

“You’re trying to get as close to that tyre [bundle] as you possibly can to open up that corner and not get a kerb strike,” he said.

“Obviously if there was no tyre barrier, you’d be fully across that kerb trying to maximise every bit of track width. It’s one of those parts of the Adelaide street track we love.”

Reigning Adelaide winner Matt Payne ended up ninth from Cameron Hill, Andre Heimgartner, Tickford pair Thomas Randle and Cam Waters, and championship hopeful Broc Feeney.

Courtney meanwhile declared topping the session as “like a win”.

“The car was really good straight out the gate. It was quite good at Gold Coast as well, so we kept the same philosophy coming into the weekend,” he said.

“It’s Thursday, but that’s like a win for us, to be honest. It’s been a tough year but over the last couple of events we’ve found some speed and really starting to get some better results.”

Supercars drivers will return to the track for a second practice session on Friday at 1:05pm local time.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship VAILO Adelaide 500, Practice 1