Tailem Bend Supercars: Tim Slade leads opening practice session
Tim Slade led the way in the opening practice session at The Bend Motorsport Park circuit at Tailem Bend.
Photo by: Dirk Klynsmith / Motorsport Images
The 45-minute session presented the first opportunity of the weekend for teams to get familiar with the new circuit.
Shane van Gisbergen was the first to set the benchmark time at a 1:54.70, but it was soon bettered by rookie Anton De Pasquale, who lapped the course in 1:52.80 seconds.
The fast time continued to be lowered as time clicked away with Rick Kelly the first driver to break into the 1:51 second bracket.
In the closing minutes, as expected, the times really picked up with Tim Slade ultimately ending up at the top of the board with a lap of 1:50.1395 seconds, over four seconds quicker than the initial fast lap set by SVG. Michael Caruso clocked in second after a late flyer, two tenths adrift of Slade's benchmark.
Tim Blanchard, Van Gisbergen and David Reynolds rounded out the top-five.
Championship leader Scott McLaughlin ended up 18th on the time sheets at a 1:51.9486.
As for incidents, there were several off-track excursions, including Nick Percat who went off course twice before being plagued by potential gearbox issues. Richie Stanaway went for a ride as well, spinning at Turn 10.
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 14 | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore ZB | 17 | 1'50.1395 | 161.794 | ||
2 | 23 | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 14 | 1'50.3344 | 0.1949 | 0.1949 | 161.509 |
3 | 21 | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore ZB | 14 | 1'50.4539 | 0.3144 | 0.1195 | 161.334 |
4 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore ZB | 14 | 1'50.6727 | 0.5332 | 0.2188 | 161.015 |
5 | 9 | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore ZB | 12 | 1'51.0510 | 0.9115 | 0.3783 | 160.466 |
6 | 99 | Anton de Pasquale | Holden Commodore ZB | 13 | 1'51.0955 | 0.9560 | 0.0445 | 160.402 |
7 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 15 | 1'51.2021 | 1.0626 | 0.1066 | 160.248 |
8 | 33 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore ZB | 13 | 1'51.2205 | 1.0810 | 0.0184 | 160.222 |
9 | 55 | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG X | 14 | 1'51.2892 | 1.1497 | 0.0687 | 160.123 |
10 | 12 | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG X | 17 | 1'51.3443 | 1.2048 | 0.0551 | 160.044 |
11 | 7 | Andre Heimgartner | Nissan Altima | 17 | 1'51.3479 | 1.2084 | 0.0036 | 160.038 |
12 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG X | 14 | 1'51.3839 | 1.2444 | 0.0360 | 159.987 |
13 | 6 | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG X | 15 | 1'51.7612 | 1.6217 | 0.3773 | 159.447 |
14 | 230 | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG X | 17 | 1'51.8109 | 1.6714 | 0.0497 | 159.376 |
15 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore ZB | 15 | 1'51.8501 | 1.7106 | 0.0392 | 159.320 |
16 | 56 | Richie Stanaway | Ford Falcon FG X | 13 | 1'51.8895 | 1.7500 | 0.0394 | 159.264 |
17 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore ZB | 18 | 1'51.8922 | 1.7527 | 0.0027 | 159.260 |
18 | 17 | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG X | 16 | 1'51.9486 | 1.8091 | 0.0564 | 159.180 |
19 | 25 | James Courtney | Holden Commodore ZB | 11 | 1'52.0032 | 1.8637 | 0.0546 | 159.102 |
20 | 78 | Simona de Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 16 | 1'52.0041 | 1.8646 | 0.0009 | 159.101 |
21 | 4 | Macauley Jones | Holden Commodore ZB | 13 | 1'52.1787 | 2.0392 | 0.1746 | 158.853 |
22 | 34 | James Golding | Holden Commodore ZB | 14 | 1'52.2488 | 2.1093 | 0.0701 | 158.754 |
23 | 35 | Todd Hazelwood | Ford Falcon FG X | 12 | 1'52.7063 | 2.5668 | 0.4575 | 158.110 |
24 | 18 | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore ZB | 17 | 1'52.7254 | 2.5859 | 0.0191 | 158.083 |
25 | 42 | Kurt Kostecki | Holden Commodore ZB | 15 | 1'52.7475 | 2.6080 | 0.0221 | 158.052 |
26 | 19 | Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | 15 | 1'52.8152 | 2.6757 | 0.0677 | 157.957 |
27 | 2 | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore ZB | 14 | 1'53.0483 | 2.9088 | 0.2331 | 157.631 |
28 | 8 | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore ZB | 10 | 1'53.3776 | 3.2381 | 0.3293 | 157.173 |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments