Winterbottom fastest in Practice 1 as van Gisbergen, Slade crash

Shane van Gisbergen and Tim Slade had separate crashes as Mark Winterbottom set the pace in Repco Supercars Championship Practice 1 at Albert Park.

Van Gisbergen caused the second red flag of the session when he dropped left-rear wheel of the #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro over the edge of the track at the Turn 8 sweeper and had a lurid spin.

The three-time champion appeared to stand on the throttle in a bid to try and save himself from hitting the walls, but the left-rear corner and the front end of the Triple Eight Race Engineering entry made contact with the barriers before it came to rest and he hopped out.

It was one of three incidents in quick succession, with PremiAir Racing’s James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro) shortcutting the flip-flop and Tickford Racing’s James Courtney (#5 Snowy Rivers Caravans Mustang) having a spin at Turn 1.

Earlier, in the 11th minute of the session, Golding’s team-mate Tim Slade came unstuck at Turn 5.

He lost the rear of the #23 Nulon Camaro, with that corner hitting a tyre-protected section of the barriers before the left-front was pulled into bare concrete, damaging both ends of the car.

In what relatively little green flag time there was, Team 18’s Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro) set the pace on a 1:49.9679s just after the first red flag period.

That lap came moments after Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) clocked a 1:50.1194s which saw him end up second.

Given van Gisbergen’s crash caused the session to time out, he was classified third on the 1:50.1749s which he set on his first run, with the top 10 completed by Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang), David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang), Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang), Brodie Kostecki (#99 Coca-Cola Camaro), Slade, Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro), and Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro).

All except Macauley Jones (#96 Pizza Hut Camaro) ran the hard compound of tyre throughout, despite the super soft also being in play this weekend.

Practice 2, another half-hour session, starts at 13:15 local time/AEDT.

Results: Practice 1