Bathurst 1000: Canto tops co-driver practice

It was HSV Racing’s Jack Perkins that led the early running, sitting on top of the times with a 2m09.169s before Ash Walsh sparked the session’s first red flag when he beached Nick Percat’s Commodore at The Chase.

Once the session got going again Paul Dumbrell took over at the top with a 2m08.381s, before there was a second stoppage, this time thanks to GRM driver Richard Muscat hitting the wall on the way out of The Dipper.

Again Dumbrell responded to the session restarting by going quicker, increasing his margin at the top with a 2m08.263s. It only last a couple of minutes, though, with Alex Premat putting the #17 Penske Ford on top with a little under half an hour to go with a 2m08.165s.

With 18 minutes to go Warren Luff became the first co-driver into the sevens with a 2m07.707s, before being bested by HSV Racing teammate Perkins, who improved to a 2m07.340s.

The next driver to make his move was Richie Stanaway, the Sandown 500 winner going second fastest with a 2m07.688s with 10 minutes to go, before jumping to the top on his next lap, a 2m07.312s.

Inside the last five minutes there was a flurry of quick times, started when GRM’s James Golding went quickest with a 2m07.233s. He was quickly displaced by Erebus’ Luke Youlden (2m06.997s) and then DJR Team Penske’s Tony D’Alberto (2m07.783s).

With a minute to go Prodrive Racing stole the show, Steve Owen putting the #55 Ford on top with a 2m06.766s before Dean Canto swooped in at the flag with a 2m07.326s.

“It’s pretty cool to see a 2m06.3s come up on the dash,” said Canto.

“We’ve been tuning the car up. We went pretty long on the first set of tyres, and threw some greens on it then. There’s still a bit of work to do to it, but this is my 19th year here so I’m pretty comfortable with the track.

Owen and D’Alberto’s times made it a Ford 1-2-3, Youlden’s fourth the best result for Holden.

Golding and Stanaway slipped down to fifth and sixth respectively, with Perkins in seventh.

Steve Richards was eighth quickest in the #888 entry, the only Triple Eight driver to finish in the Top 10. Dumbrell dropped all the way back to 18th, while Matt Campbell was 23rd and slowest of everyone except Muscat.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	5	Mark Winterbottom    Dean Canto	Ford Falcon FG-X	2'06.3269
2	55	Steven Owen    Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	2'06.7668	0.4399
3	12	Tony D'Alberto    Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG-X	2'06.7830	0.4561
4	9	David Reynolds  Luke Youlden	Holden Commodore VF	2'06.9971	0.6702
5	33	Garth Tander    James Golding	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.2322	0.9053
6	6	Richie Stanaway    Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	2'07.3126	0.9857
7	22	James Courtney    Jack Perkins	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.3404	1.0135
8	888	Steven Richards    Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.3617	1.0348
9	99	Dale Wood    Chris Pither	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.4537	1.1268
10	56	Jason Bright    Garry Jacobson	Ford Falcon FG-X	2'07.4807	1.1538
11	19	Jonathon Webb    Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.5694	1.2425
12	20	Todd Kelly    Jack Le Brocq	Nissan Altima	2'07.6936	1.3667
13	2	Warren Luff    Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.7072	1.3803
14	18	Lee Holdsworth    Karl Reindler	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.7142	1.3873
15	21	Tim Blanchard    Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.7163	1.3894
16	78	Simona de Silvestro    David Russell	Nissan Altima	2'07.7289	1.4020
17	17	Alexandre Prémat    Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	2'07.9771	1.6502
18	88	Jamie Whincup    Paul Dumbrell	Holden Commodore VF	2'08.2637	1.9368
19	23	Michael Caruso    Dean Fiore	Nissan Altima	2'08.4664	2.1395
20	15	Rick Kelly    David Wall	Nissan Altima	2'08.5496	2.2227
21	8	Tim Slade    Ash Walsh	Holden Commodore VF	2'08.5784	2.2515
22	3	Aaren Russell    Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	2'08.5829	2.2560
23	97	Shane van Gisbergen    Matt Campbell	Holden Commodore VF	2'08.6662	2.3393
24	34	James Moffat    Richard Muscat	Holden Commodore VF	2'09.8924	3.5655