Thompson fastest in Townsville Fujitsu practice

Andrew Thompson has led the way on the opening day of practice for Round 3 of the 2011 Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series in Townsville.

The Monster Energy Triple Eight Commodore driver topped both of the 40 minute sessions, with his best time of 1:13.49s set with just four minutes to go in Practice 2.

Walkinshaw Racing’s Coates Hire entry of Nick Percat was 0.36s adrift in second place, with the former Australian Formula Ford Champion narrowly avoiding disaster during a big slide through the fast Turn 10 sweeper in the afternoon.

Cameron McConville (Eggleston Motorsport) and Daniel Jilesen (R&J Batteries GMR) joined Percat in setting late flyers to be third and fourth respectively, edging out the ABC Towing Commodore of Marcus Zukanovic.

Zukanovic had been third fastest in the morning session despite differential and brake problems, and spent much of the afternoon running second on the leaderboard behind the dominant Thompson.

Andrew Jones (Flexi Hire BJR), Paul Morris (The Love Machine PMM), David Russsell (Team Jayco MWR), Todd Fiore (Flexi Staff Triple F) and Geoff Emery (AC Delco GMR) rounded out the top 10.

Scott McLaughlin’s afternoon session lasted just seven minutes before the Fujitsu backed Stone Brothers Racing Falcon of Scott McLaughlin  came to a halt on the circuit with an engine problem, bringing out the red flags.

Jack Perkins (Supercheap Auto Sonic Motor Racing Services) did not turn a lap in the afternoon following a collision with Lindsay Yelland’s Eggleston Motorsport VZ in Practice 1.

Perkins and the remainder of the 28 car field will return to the track tomorrow morning at 9:35 for qualifying.

See below for the combined result for Practice 1 and 2

See below for Speedcafe.com’s Townsville V8 Race Guide