Garth Tander has ended the first day of practice at the inaugural Sydney Telstra 500 as the fastest man.
Driving his #2 Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore, Tander finished with a time of 1m30.1032s. The 2007 series champ said he would have even been faster, if not held up by Shane van Gisbergen on his final hot lap.
Valvoline Cummins driver Lee Holdsworth was second in his Holden, a shade under a tenth behind Tander.
New Zealander van Gisbergen was third in
his SP Tools Falcon – the first time he’s ended a practice session in the top three.
Will Davison (Toll Holden Racing Team) was fourth ahead of David Reynolds (Bundaberg Red Commodore). Reynolds result means that he ended every practice session today inside the top five.
In typical V8 Supercar style, the top 20 cars were separated by less than 1 second. It’s not an amazing statistic on a regular V8 weekend, but considering the Sydney track is new and unique, it’s a testament to how tight and competitive the series is.
Todd Kelly (Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore) failed to start the session after damaging his car in a heavy shunt in Practice 2.
The crowd figures for Day 1 at the Olympic precinct was 51,193.
Qualifying kicks off tomorrow morning at 10am, followed by Race 25 of the V8 Championship Series at 2.35pm.
Practice 3 results – V8 Supercar Championship Series
1. #2 Garth Tander 1:30.1032
2. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1:30.1993
3. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen 1:30.2327
4. #22 Will Davison 1:30.3944
5. #24 David Reynolds 1:30.4106
6. #51 Greg Murphy 1:30.4202
7. #18 James Courtney 1:30.4392
8. #14 Cameron McConville 1:30.4776
9. #5 Mark Winterbottom 1:30.6125
10. #10 Paul Dumbrell 1:30.7448
11. #6 Steven Richards 1:30.7938
12. #55 Tony D’Alberto 1:30.8290
13. #15 Rick Kelly 1:30.8296
14. #25 Jason Bright 1:30.8351
15. #34 Michael Caruso 1:30.8773
16. #111 Fabian Coulthard 1:30.8894
17. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:30.9562
18. #888 Craig Lowndes 1:31.0226
19. #4 Alex Davison 1:31.0784
20. #39 Russell Ingall 1:31.0804
21. #8 Jason Richards 1:31.4717
22. #17 Steven Johnson 1:31.5304
23. #11 Jack Perkins 1:31.5526
24. #3 Jason Bargwanna 1:31.7079
25. #67 Tim Slade 1:31.9639
26. #333 Michael Patrizi 1:32.1774
27. #16 Mark McNally 1:32.9943
28. #12 Dean Fiore 1:33.3485
