A late run from Tim Slade saw him top the timesheet in the opening practice run of the NP300 Navara Winton Super Sprint.
The Supercheap Auto Commodore made use of good rubber towards the end of the hour session to post a 1:23.8937s effort which proved to be a mere fraction quicker than Red Bull Racing’s Jamie Whincup.
The entire field has been given an extra set of hard tyres for today’s practice sessions for the first time this season following a decision by V8 Supercars earlier this week.
The new set is in addition to the 12 pre-marked tyres, which can either be of the hard or soft compound.
“It’s nice to be top but we lost some time in the session with a few dramas,” said Slade, who also topped Friday practice at Barbagallo earlier this month.
“However we managed to get some good laps in on good tyres.
“We expected to be somewhere near the top with the quality of tyres we ran.
“It’s early days but so far so good.”
It proved to be a strong session for Erebus Motorsport with Ash Walsh storming to third at the end of the session while team-mate Will Davison was fifth.
The Erebus Mercedes sandwiched the Prodrive Racing Australia Ford of Chaz Mostert who led the majority of the session.
Todd Kelly, Shane van Gisbergen, Fabian Coutlhard, David Reynolds and Scott McLaughlin completed the top 10.
Several co-drivers took part in the hit out in a bid to rack up valuable mileage ahead of the upcoming Pirtek Enduro Cup.
A second 60 minute session will be held later this afternoon.
Result: V8 Supercars Practice 1, Winton
1 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.89 | |
2 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.90 | 00:00.00 |
3 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | A.Walsh/J.Le Brocq | Mercedes E63 AMG | 01:23.96 | 00:00.07 |
4 | Pepsi Max Crew | C.Mostert/C.Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 01:24.04 | 00:00.14 |
5 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Will Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 01:24.09 | 00:00.19 |
6 | Nissan Motorsport | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 01:24.18 | 00:00.29 |
7 | Team Darrell Lea STIX | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 01:24.27 | 00:00.37 |
8 | Freightliner Racing | F.Coulthard/L.Youlden | Holden Commodore VF | 01:24.27 | 00:00.38 |
9 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | D.Reynolds/D.Canto | Ford Falcon FG/X | 01:24.28 | 00:00.39 |
10 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 01:24.30 | 00:00.41 |
11 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 01:24.32 | 00:00.42 |
12 | DJR Team Penske | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG/X | 01:24.48 | 00:00.58 |
13 | Walkinshaw Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 01:24.49 | 00:00.60 |
14 | Nissan Motorsport | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 01:24.49 | 00:00.60 |
15 | Nissan Motorsport | J.Moffat/T.Douglas | Nissan Altima | 01:24.53 | 00:00.64 |
16 | Team Cooldrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 01:24.59 | 00:00.69 |
17 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 01:24.61 | 00:00.71 |
18 | Team BOC | J.Bright/A.Jones | Holden Commodore VF | 01:24.61 | 00:00.72 |
19 | Pepsi Max Crew | M.Winterbottom/S.Owen | Ford Falcon FG/X | 01:24.68 | 00:00.79 |
20 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | David Wall | Volvo S60 | 01:24.69 | 00:00.80 |
21 | Holden Racing Team | J.Courtney/J.Perkins | Holden Commodore VF | 01:24.71 | 00:00.82 |
22 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 01:24.85 | 00:00.96 |
23 | Holden Racing Team | G.Tander/W.Luff | Holden Commodore VF | 01:24.85 | 00:00.96 |
24 | Super Black Racing | A.Heimgartner/A.Pedersen | Ford Falcon FG/X | 01:25.15 | 00:01.25 |
25 | GB Galvanizing Racing | D.Wood/M.Jones | Holden Commodore VF | 01:25.20 | 00:01.31 |