Tander storms to top spot in first Bathurst 1000 co-driver session

Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Garth Tander has set the fastest lap of the day in Practice 2, the first designated co-driver session, at the Repco Bathurst 1000.

In Shane van Gisbergen’s #97 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore, Tander clocked a 2:04.1359s just 10 minutes into the hour-long session and it would not be beaten.

He would later advise that he was handed green tyres during the session.

David Russell finished second in Brodie Kostecki’s #99 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore on a 2:04.2379s, which was also faster than Will Davison’s Practice 1 benchmark of 2:04.3691s, with Jamie Whincup (#88 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore) claiming third for the session on a 2:04.4477s.

Practice 2 began with a dry track but barely more than five minutes had passed when it was red-flagged after Kurt Kostecki ran off at The Chase and got brother Jake’s #56 Tradie Mustang stuck in the saturated gravel trap.

Tander was fastest of the seven drivers who had set a lap time at that point on a 2:06.2701s, but then nailed the 2:04.1359s as soon as he went out again after the red flag.

In fact, the four-time Great Race winner was still more than a second up on the field after team-mate Whincup improved to a 2:05.2095s, two laps later.

The split to second was much closer when Erebus Motorsport’s Russell wheeled Car #99 to a 2:04.2379s not long before half an hour of green flag time had elapsed.

Will Davison’s co-driver Alex Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) had a nervous slide on the Griffins Bend exit kerb around 35 minutes in, amid evidence that light rain might have been falling around parts of the Mountain.

A second red flag came with just under 10 minutes remaining when Warren Luff locked a brake and sailed off at The Chase, getting Nick Percat’s #2 Mobil 1 NTI ZB Commodore beached in the gravel just as Whincup was working up to another good lap in what is now Broc Feeney’s car.

The recovery started to eat into the extra 10 minutes which can be added for such stoppages and just over six minutes remained when the session went green again.

Whincup finished with back-to-back personal bests to end the afternoon 0.3118s off Tander’s pace, with Brad Jones Racing’s Jordan Boys also a late improver, to fourth on a 2:04.6934s in the Macauley Jones #96 Wet & Forget ZB Commodore.

Likewise, Matt Campbell (#26 Penrite Mustang) took fifth on a 2:04.7002s, from Zane Goddard (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang), Zak Best (#55 Castrol Mustang), Fabian Coulthard (#25 Mobil 1 Optus ZB Commodore), Aaron Seton (#34 Truck Assist ZB Commodore), and James Moffat (#6 Monster Energy Mustang).

Alex Davison was classified 13th on a 2:05.3144s and team-mate Tony D’Alberto (#100 Shell V-Power Mustang) 23rd on a 2:06.0331s.

Between them were Craig Lowndes’ co-driver Declan Fraser in 21st on a 2:05.7700s in the #888 Supercheap Auto ZB Commodore and fellow wildcard Greg Murphy in 22nd on a 2:05.8716s in the #51 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore.

Practice 3, when the primary drivers will be allowed back in, is set to get underway tomorrow at 10:10 local time/AEDT.

Results: Practice 2 Co-drivers