Shane van Gisbergen and Anton De Pasquale found the wall separately in the opening Repco Supercars Championship practice session at the Bathurst 1000.
CLICK HERE for the full Practice 1 report
Van Gisbergen tagged the fence under ‘The Tree’ with the left-hand side of the #97 ZB Commodore in the second half of Practice 1.
The incident unfolded given the championship leader had stepped slightly off the dry race line and onto what was otherwise still a wet surface after morning rain.
He was able to slowly return to the pits for his Triple Eight Race Engineering crew to assess the damage and co-driver Garth Tander was sent back out a few minutes later.
“Yeah I hit the wall,” said van Gisbergen shortly after hopping out of the Red Bull Ampol Racing car.
“I just drove it back slowly, I wasn’t sure about the arms.
“I knew the wheel would be bent but I think the suspension is okay; just whether we put the rim back on or next set of tyres.
“The car is pretty good, [it’s] early days.
“It’s tough, I just wanted to have a clean session one, so I’m pretty pissed at myself for doing that, but car felt good.”
Shortly after van Gisbergen’s incident, De Pasquale made contact with the wall at Forrest’s Elbow.
The Shell V-Power Racing Team driver spun under braking, before swiping the tyre barrier with the rear of the #100 Mustang.
He completed a full 360-degree loop and was able to continue on, although the rear wing appeared to have a split in the centre from the touch with the wall.
De Pasquale put the incident down to a snagged downshift.
“Yeah the save was definitely better than the error; just had a half-rejected shift, then got a bit wide, the rears were trying to lock, so just trying to pick and hit the right fence,” he recounted.
“Just nicked it and cracked a bit of the rear wing, so all good.”
The sister Dick Johnson Racing entry of Will Davison was fastest in Practice 1.
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