Steve Owen has topped the first session of the day at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, leaving it until the closing minutes to dial a 2min06.777 around Mount Panorama.
Owen, pairing with Mark Winterbottom in the Pepsi Max Ford, was looking to score yet another fast lap after the chequered flag, but just fell short of topping his own time.
“Frosty’s pretty comfortable, so am I, so to top the co-driver session is remarkable,” Owen said.
“There’s a bit of pressure with the ‘back-to-back’ (Bathurst win), we’ve got some pretty keen Ford fans on the hill hoping for it to happen.”
Winterbottom was clearly pleased with the result and continued to sing the praises of his co-driver, who won both races in a Dunlop Series car at Bathurst last year.
“He is not just a Bathurst specialist – he’s a bit of a guru everywhere!” Winterbottom said.
“He’s doing a great job. We have a pretty good car – you go to bed not knowing who’s coming out with what… but it’s still Friday, it’s hard to think we race in two days time. But so far so good, we just try to tune it and keep going.”
Luke Youlden, pairing with Fabian Coulthard in the Lockwood Commodore, also showed strong pace just 0.017sec behind the fast Ford.
Alex Premat was the first into the ‘sixes’ in the session in the Volvo he shares with McLaughlin, and it was a Nissan following in fourth with Taz Douglas behind
Dean Canto also spending a period at the top of the totem pole – after main driver David Reynolds lowered the record around Mount Panorama in that car – and finished fifth.
There were few big moments for Paul Dumbrell and Steve Johnson – but it was the other DJR Falcon of Ash Walsh sustaining damage after the young gun lost the rear at the Cutting.
“I turned in and lost the rear and got the wall pretty lightly, but you can see cosmetic damage,” Walsh said.
“Don’t think I got the wheels, it was ok on the way back – here, you hit the wall and you pay for it pretty bad.”
Of course, the team is already working to repair the Falcon, after its sister Falcon was damaged in practice yesterday with David Wall experiencing a flat tyre.
After Canto in fifth, it was Dean Fiore (pairing with Michael Caruso) and Alex Buncombe (Todd Kelly), seeing three of the four Nissans in the top 10.
Cam Waters (Jack Perkins), Tony D’Alberto (Tim Slade) and Steven Richards (Craig Lowndes) completed the 10.
Others to note include Dumbrell in 16th – after Jamie Whincup described the Red Bull Commodore as an animal they were trying to tame, Warren Luff in 20th after the Holden Racing Team repaired the #2 after Garth Tander’s crash yesterday, and yesterday’s quickest co-driver Greg Murphy in 21st.
The final practice session of the day begins at 1.10pm, for all drivers, with ARMOR ALL Qualifying at 3pm ADT.
Also today, the Dunlop Series qualifies at 3.55pm ahead of the category’s first ever mini-marathon at Bathurst, the Wilson MedicOne Enduro.
