David Wall has commended the efforts of his Dick Johnson Racing crew after the crashed #17 Ford returned to the track for the final stages of Thursday practice.
Wall suffered a tyre failure on Conrod Straight on just his second lap of the opening practice session, sending the Wilson Security Falcon spinning into the concrete on the approach to The Chase.
The incident occurred while Wall was travelling at an estimated 200km/h, talking to his team on the radio about a suspected issue with the right-rear of the car.
CLICK HERE for more on the incident in today’s earlier report
The crash sparked yet another rebuild effort for DJR at Bathurst, a year on from its previous retro-themed #17 Falcon’s heavy incident at Reid Park.
The Shell/FAI coloured Ford missed all of second practice while the team fixed suspension and panel damage, as well as replacing the transaxle.
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Wall returned to the track 15 minutes into Practice 3, subsequently sharing just eight flying laps with Johnson to end the session 24th fastest.
“Full credit to the team, they worked flat-out as soon as they car got back from that first session until it was back on track,” Wall told Speedcafe.com.
“There were no dramas with the car when we went out, the steering was nice and straight, so we start our weekend from now and thank our lucky stars that it was alright.
“We’re obviously a session behind everyone and the car was very nervous in that final session.
“So we need to have a look at it tonight and make it easier to drive and a little more predictable.
“Scott (Pye, team-mate) is going reasonably well (20th in Practice 3) and the FPR cars are quite quick, which is encouraging heading into the rest of the weekend.”
The driver admitted that the team remains unsure why exactly the tyre failure occurred.
“We don’t know why,” he said.
“They showed us it was a puncture and how it delaminated and jammed up on the tyre in the guard, but I haven’t actually seen it (the tyre) since.
“All we know is that it’s had a slow puncture or it’s punctured at that point and away she went.”
Wall remains hopeful of making a career-first Top 10 Shootout tomorrow afternoon.
Teams will have two more practice sessions to negotiate before the Shootout field is set by a 40 minute qualifying session.
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