Whincup tops Bathurst practice
Reigning Bathurst champions Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup set the pace on the opening day of practice for this year's Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000
The Team Vodafone duo ended the day over six-tenths clear of the next fastest car, the Sprint Gas Commodore of Jason Bargwanna and Mark Noske.
The Sprint Gas car was less that two-tenths ahead of a group of four cars comprising Jim Beam's James Courtney and Steven Johnson, Ford Performance Racing's Steven Richards and Mark Winterbottom, Team BOC's Cameron McConville and Jason Richards, and Stone Brothers' Alex Davison and Shane van Gisbergen.
The second Sprint Gas car of multiple Bathurst victors Greg Murphy and Mark Skaife was next fastest, Skaife now only an endurance driver after retiring from full-time racing at the end of last season.
The second Jim Beam Falcon of Warren Luff and Jonathon Webb were next fastest, closely followed by the Fujitsu Racing Falcon of Jason Bright and Karl Reindler with the Wilson Team McGrath pairing of Fabian Coulthard and Michael Patrizi completing the top ten on day one.
The opening day of practice was a fairly uneventful one, a few offs into the sand at the Chase as bad as things got, though one of the cars to end up stuck in the sand was the leading Holden Racing Team car of Garth Tander and Will Davison.
They ended the day in 20th position over 2.5 seconds off Whincup's best, two places behind the HRT's second car of Craig Baird and Paul Dumbrell.
Pos Drivers Make Time 1. Lowndes/Whincup Ford 2:07.3745 2. Bargwanna/Noske Holden 2:07.9918 + 0.6173 3. Courtney/Johnson/Luff Ford 2:08.0277 + 0.6532 4. S Richards/Winterbottom/Canto Ford 2:08.0842 + 0.7097 5. McConville/J Richards Holden 2:08.1048 + 0.7303 6. A Davison/van Gisbergen Ford 2:08.1491 + 0.7746 7. Murphy/Skaife Holden 2:08.2931 + 0.9186 8. Luff/Webb Ford 2:08.5636 + 1.1891 9. Bright/Reindler Ford 2:08.6165 + 1.2420 10. Coulthard/Patrizi Ford 2:08.8214 + 1.4469 11. Holdsworth/Caruso/Ritter Holden 2:08.8497 + 1.4752 12. R Kelly/T Kelly Holden 2:08.9163 + 1.5418 13. Simonsen/J Thompson Ford 2:08.9741 + 1.5996 14. Besnard/Ritter Holden 2:09.1753 + 1.8008 15. D'Alberto/A Thompson Holden 2:09.4281 + 2.0536 16. Gaunt/McIntyre/A Davison Ford 2:09.5476 + 2.1731 17. Ingall/O Kelly Holden 2:09.6877 + 2.3132 18. Baird/Dumbrell Holden 2:09.7299 + 2.3554 19. Canto/Youlden Ford 2:09.9218 + 2.5473 20. W Davison/G Tander/Baird Holden 2:09.9813 + 2.6068 21. A Jones/B Jones Holden 2:10.0495 + 2.6750 22. Assaillit/Lowe Ford 2:10.1191 + 2.7446 23. Perkins/Wood Holden 2:10.1315 + 2.7570 24. Owen/Price Holden 2:10.5502 + 3.1757 25. Priaulx/Reynolds Holden 2:10.5750 + 3.2005 26. Collins/T Kelly/Pretty Holden 2:10.8565 + 3.4820 27. Morris/Slade Holden 2:11.1227 + 3.7482 28. Douglas/Walter Holden 2:11.2516 + 3.8771 29. Coulthard/L Tander/Wall Ford 2:11.8731 + 4.4986 30. Sieders/Fisher Ford 2:12.2432 + 4.8687 31. Bayliss/Fiore Holden 2:12.5740 + 5.1995 32. McNally/Ricciardello Holden 2:13.0034 + 5.6289
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