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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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