Ford Performance Racing has fired the opening salvo ahead of Sunday’s Dick Smith Sandown 500, with Mark Winterbottom setting the pace in opening practice.
The 2006 Sandown 500 winner recorded his best time of 1:10.70s 29 minutes into the 40 minute session before handing the #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon to co-driver Steven Richards.
The championship regulars completed the bulk of the running in most cars as teams evaluated their set-ups in the cool but mainly sunny conditions.
Jamie Whincup ran the entire session in TeamVodafone’s #1 Holden, recording a total of eight laps in the high 1:10s bracket to end up second fastest with a 1:10.72s best.
David Reynolds likewise soaked up the whole session to be third quickest in The Bottle-O Ford, while the Craig Lowndes/Warren Luff, Steve Owen/Paul Morris and Will Davison/John McIntyre combinations filled fourth through sixth.
The session was punctuated by a single red flag period, called to remove the two speed humps on the exit of Turn 12 after they had become dislodged.
The second of three 40 minute outings for the V8 Supercars today is scheduled for 1205 local time, and will be held for the co-drivers only.
See below for the full Practice 1 result
| 1 | M.Winterbottom/S.Richards | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.6974 | |
| 2 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.7184 | 0:00.0210 |
| 3 | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.7535 | 0:00.0561 |
| 4 | C.Lowndes/W.Luff | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.7676 | 0:00.0702 |
| 5 | S.Owen/P.Morris | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.7732 | 0:00.0758 |
| 6 | W.Davison/J.McIntyre | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.7762 | 0:00.0788 |
| 7 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.7876 | 0:00.0902 |
| 8 | F.Coulthard/D.Besnard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.8828 | 0:00.1854 |
| 9 | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.9440 | 0:00.2466 |
| 10 | R.Ingall/C.Klien | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.0636 | 0:00.3662 |
| 11 | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.0976 | 0:00.4002 |
| 12 | L.Holdsworth/C.Baird | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.1097 | 0:00.4123 |
| 13 | T.Slade/A.Thompson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.1419 | 0:00.4445 |
| 14 | J.Courtney/C.McConville | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.1447 | 0:00.4473 |
| 15 | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.2012 | 0:00.5038 |
| 16 | D.Fiore/M.Halliday | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.2266 | 0:00.5292 |
| 17 | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.2319 | 0:00.5345 |
| 18 | T.D’Alberto/D.Wood | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.3532 | 0:00.6558 |
| 19 | Greg Murphy | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.3596 | 0:00.6622 |
| 20 | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.3728 | 0:00.6754 |
| 21 | A.Premat/J.Perkins | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.3793 | 0:00.6819 |
| 22 | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.4017 | 0:00.7043 |
| 23 | S.Van Gisbergen/L.Youlden | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.4382 | 0:00.7408 |
| 24 | K.Reindler/D.Gaunt | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.4575 | 0:00.7601 |
| 25 | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.6488 | 0:00.9514 |
| 26 | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.2367 | 0:01.5393 |
| 27 | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.4522 | 0:01.7548 |
| 28 | M.Patrizi/J.Reid | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.4594 | 0:01.7620 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Sandown 500 Race Guide
