Walton sets Utes pace as records fall at Bathurst

The series leader dipped under practice record territory with a 2:32.602 on his fifth lap of the afternoon session on the new Mount Panorama surface.

That was enough to dislodge Ryal Harris, who had sat atop the timesheet with just over five minutes raining.

While the last start winner went quicker late in the 20 minute session, he could neither reclaim top spot nor beat the time which saw him top Practice 1 with a then-record lap earlier in the day.

Nathan Pretty, Rhys McNally, and David Sieders completed the combined sessions top five, though none could improve on their times from the day’s earlier session.

Touring Car Masters
John Bowe broke the Touring Car Masters practice record on his way to topping both practice sessions in the series’ penultimate round of the season.

The twice Bathurst 1000 winner bested Glenn Seton’s year-old benchmark by over a second with a 2:20.514 on his third flying lap of Practice 2, an improvement of nearly four tenths on his first flying lap of the session.

Andrew Miedecke was nearly two seconds adrift as he laid down a 2:22.428 just prior to the emergence of the red flag with two of the 20 minutes remaining, while Kim Jane finished a further 1.2s adrift.

Championship contender Jim Richards was 4.5s off the pace in seventh.

Bowe had topped the opening session, which was also cut short when Mark King managed to safely bring his Camaro to a halt beside the track despite suffering a delaminated tyre halfway down Conrod Straight.

Aussie Cars
Phil Ward christened one of Aussie Racing Cars’ two brand new body shapes, the Camaro, with the quickest lap in the category’s only practice session.

James Abela and Grant Denyer were next best, while series leaders Peter Carr, Darren Chamberlin, and Brendon Pingel could only manage 11th, fifth, and 22nd respectively.

Ward’s benchmark 2:36.084 was slower than the fastest racing laps during Aussie Racing Cars’ last visit to Mount Panorama in Easter 2012, suggesting that there is much more time to be found across the field when qualifying is held tomorrow morning at 0730.

That session will be followed immediately by Touring Car Masters and V8 Utes qualifying.