Sydney Supercars: Caruso tops windy opening practice

The Nissan driver led the early running with a 1m30.866s, before being replaced by David Reynolds’ 1m30.732s 13 minutes into the 45-minute session.

Scott McLaughlin was next to have a crack at the top, going fastest with a 1m30.341s, before Caruso took back over top spot with a 1m30.177s on 20 minutes.

On the half-hour mark Caruso went even quicker, becoming the first to break into the 1m29s with a 1m29.964s despite a huge headwind that was eating into top speeds down the straight.

That time wound up being good enough to keep Caruso on top, with McLaughlin more than three tenths back in second.

“It’s hard to make out what the competitors are doing, we only know what we’re doing in our team,” said Caruso.

“There’s still a bit to try, and obviously in the next session we’ll try and improve.”

“The wind around here is crazy! On my very first lap I came down the straight and I didn’t even get into sixth gear. You go from having a car that feels like it’s handling, to another part of the track where you’re hanging on.”

DJR Team Penske driver McLaughlin agreed that the wind made it an odd session.

“It’s crazy, we’re deep into Turn 1,” said the points leader.

“It’s awesome, you drive it in and the car just sticks. Then when you get over the back it pushes the car into the corner very hard, it’s quite hard to stop there. It’s easy to under do it and over do it in these conditions.”

Jamie Whincup was third fastest, the Triple Eight Holden driver with a 1m30.476s, while the BJR Holden of Tim Slade was just a hundredth further back in fourth.

McLaughlin’s teammate Fabian Coulthard was fifth quickest ahead of Chaz Mostert, while Reynolds slipped back to seventh with that early 1m30.7s.

Cam Waters was eighth quickest, with Lee Holdsworth and Scott Pye in ninth and 10th respectively.

Triple Eight pair Shane van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes both finished the session outside the Top 10, while Will Davison was the hard luck story of the session, completing just four laps before being sidelined with a steering rack issue.