TeamVodafone imports Sebastien Bourdais and Andy Priaulx have dominated the opening co-drivers only practice session for the Armor All Gold Coast 600.
Bourdais and Priaulx swapped the top time throughout the 40 minutes, with the Frenchman putting down a best of 1:13.04s with five minutes remaining to be 0.33s faster than the Briton.
Bourdais was characteristically precise around the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, recording just one kerb hopping infringement compared to 11 for his team-mate.
Australian Ryan Briscoe was third fastest with a 1:13.55s effort – the Penske Racing IndyCar driver hustling the #2 Toll Holden Racing Team hard in a session that included a visit down the Turn 11 escape road.
Briscoe narrowly held bragging rights over fellow Walkinshaw Commodore driver Patrick Long (#61 Bundaberg Racing), while Oliver Gavin was the fastest of the Kelly Racing co-drivers, emerging fifth in the Pepsi Max backed Commodore.
Gavin briefly displaced the TeamVodafone cars at the top of the times at the midway point of the session before the pace increased in the closing stages.
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The Turn 14 hairpin leading onto the front-straight proved the most troublesome for the internationals, with Richard Lyons (Orrcon Steel FPR) the first to nose into the outside tyre wall after just six minutes had been run.
Fabrizio Giovanardi (Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing), Marino Franchitti (Gulf Western Oil Racing) and Jorg Bergmeister (Jack Daniel’s Racing) would repeat the Irishman’s mistake before the session was complete.
Tonio Liuzzi, the only current Formula One driver in the field, ended the 40 minutes at the foot of the time sheets after a difficult session that included brushing a tyre wall with the right-front corner of the Wilson Security Racing Falcon during his first flying lap.
Practice 2 got underway a full 35 minutes after its scheduled 1135 start time following a crash by Jeremy Gray in Carrera Cup practice at the Turn 6/7/8/9/10 chicane that required a concrete block to be replaced.
Practice 3 is set to commence at 1335 local time.
See below for the full session result
| 1 | TeamVodafone | Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.9927 | |
| 2 | TeamVodafone | Andy Priaulx (GBR) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.3191 | 0:00.3264 |
| 3 | Toll Holden Racing Team | Ryan Briscoe (AUS) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.5494 | 0:00.5567 |
| 4 | Bundaberg Racing | Patrick Long (USA) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.7123 | 0:00.7196 |
| 5 | Pepsi Max Crew | Oliver Gavin (GBR) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.7225 | 0:00.7298 |
| 6 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Richard Westbrook (GBR) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.7344 | 0:00.7417 |
| 7 | Toll Holden Racing Team | Darren Turner (GBR) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.8733 | 0:00.8806 |
| 8 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Augusto Farfus Jr (BRA) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.8885 | 0:00.8958 |
| 9 | Stratco Racing | Alex Tagliani (CAN) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:14.0651 | 0:01.0724 |
| 10 | Lucky 7 Racing | Helio Castroneves (BRA) | Ford Falcon FG | 1:14.1887 | 0:01.1960 |
| 11 | Jana Living Racing | Allan Simonsen (DNK) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:14.3142 | 0:01.3215 |
| 12 | Trading Post FPR Falcon | Mika Salo (FIN) | Ford Falcon FG | 1:14.3707 | 0:01.3780 |
| 13 | Westrac Racing | Gianni Morbidelli (ITA) | Ford Falcon FG | 1:14.6487 | 0:01.6560 |
| 14 | Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon | Richard Lyons (GBR) | Ford Falcon FG | 1:14.7646 | 0:01.7719 |
| 15 | Mother Energy Racing Team | Gil de Ferran (BRA) | Ford Falcon FG | 1:14.8979 | 0:01.9052 |
| 16 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Jan Magnussen (DNK) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.0106 | 0:02.0179 |
| 17 | SP Tools Racing | Emanuele Pirro (ITA) | Ford Falcon FG | 1:15.0240 | 0:02.0313 |
| 18 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Fabrizio Giovanardi ITA | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.0586 | 0:02.0659 |
| 19 | Jim Beam Racing | Joey Hand (USA) | Ford Falcon FG | 1:15.2316 | 0:02.2389 |
| 20 | Irwin Racing | Marc Lieb (DEU) | Ford Falcon FG | 1:15.2903 | 0:02.2976 |
| 21 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Jorg Bergmeister (DEU) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.3565 | 0:02.3638 |
| 22 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Simon Pagenaud (FRA) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.3799 | 0:02.3872 |
| 23 | Jim Beam Racing | Dirk Mueller (DEU) | Ford Falcon FG | 1:15.4458 | 0:02.4531 |
| 24 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Christian Klien (AUT) | Ford Falcon FG | 1:15.4818 | 0:02.4891 |
| 25 | Team Boc | Stephane Sarrazin (FRA) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.7719 | 0:02.7792 |
| 26 | Gulf Western Oil Racing | Marino Franchitti (GBR) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:15.7936 | 0:02.8009 |
| 27 | VIP Petfoods | Boris Said (USA) | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:16.6273 | 0:03.6346 |
| 28 | Wilson Security Racing | Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) | Ford Falcon FG | 1:16.7564 | 0:03.7637 |
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See below for Speedcafe.com’s Armor All Gold Coast 600 Race Guide
