Tim Slade has recovered from a disappointing result at the last round in Tasmania, as the V8 Supercars hit the track for practice at the Perth SuperSprint.
Slade set the fastest time of the day with a 56.77sec lap, just 0.12sec quicker than Walkinshaw Racing stablemate James Courtney in the second practice session at Barbagallo Raceway.
The Supercheap Auto racer set the time on his first lap of 33, at the top for the majority of the one-hour session – but he wasn’t reading too far into the result.
“I think the end results for practice come down to tyres, the infamous tyres… we didn’t get a chance to run it on soft tyres in Tasmania as we had dramas all day in practice there, so we brought them here,” Slade said.
“The same idea as we had in Tassie – to get data on the soft tyre before chucking it on for Sunday [mixed tyre race].
“We got through some good stuff; I think we learned a bit.”
The session was interrupted early with a red flag for Scott Pye, who found himself stuck in the notorious Perth sand at the final corner five minutes in.
Many competitors pushed the limits at that part of the track, but were ultimately unable to catch the Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore.
Behind Courtney – who shared the #22 with Pirtek Enduro Cup co-driver Jack Perkins – was Mark Winterbottom, David Reynolds, Nick Percat, Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin. The top seven cars were separated by less than 0.3sec, with 1.49sec between the 25-car field.
The Red Bull’s were down the order, with Championship leader Jamie Whincup 14th and Craig Lowndes 16th.
Chaz Mostert, Shane van Gisbergen and West Australian Garth Tander were also back in the pack, 17th, 18th and 22nd respectively.
The V8 Supercars will hit the track for 15 minutes of practice at 9.15am local time tomorrow, with back-to-back qualifying beginning at 10.40am.
