Waters leads opening Gold Coast 500 practice
CAM Waters has laid down the early benchmark in an intriguing opening Supercars practice at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.
Pushing the limits was a key narrative, as was uncertainty surrounding the form guide with lost lap times and differing run plans.
Bathurst 1000 winner Brodie Kostecki went straight to the top of the leaderboard on his first flying lap, in an ominous sign for rivals before the Fords of Waters and Matt Payne started trading fast times.
Waters won Race 1 of the 2023 Gold Coast 500 and Payne’s then teammate David Reynolds took out Race 2, so both those teams arrive with runs on the board.
Payne though is today without his usual race engineer Jack Bell (food poisoning), with Grove Racing technical director Grant McPherson slotting in as his substitute.
That was no concern to the Kiwi young gun, who was only deposed from first place mere moments before the halfway point of the 40-minute session.
Responsible for that was his compatriot Andre Heimgartner, on a 1m11.7421s.
While there was one eye on the clock, there were plenty toying with the kerb sensors to find the limit.
That might have affected the pecking order, but is a crucial exercise ahead of qualifying tomorrow morning to maximise without risking lap times being deleted.
By the end there were 189 kerb hops recorded – even amid a trial to leave the Turn 2 sensors turned off – not to mention a number of cuts straight through chicanes.
Through the second half, Anton De Pasquale, Will Brown and Chaz Mostert spent time at the top before Waters posted an unparalleled 1m11.3972s to get within a second of the fastest Gen3 time at Surfers Paradise set by the Monster man 12 months ago.
Heimgartner and James Courtney also improved in the dying stages to snatch second and third respectively ahead of Mostert, Brown and Broc Feeney.
Richie Stanaway was seventh, even after spending the bulk of the session on a 25-lap race run.
A strange transaxle issue crippled Jaxon Evans’ SCT Camaro, leaving the rookie to be well off the pace in last.
Practice 2 starts 3:35pm local time/AEST.
RESULTS: Practice 1, 2024 Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500
PosNo.DriverTeamCarTime16Cam WatersTickfordFord1m11.3972s28Andre HeimgartnerBJRChevrolet+0.1136s37James CourtneyBRTFord+0.1172s425Chaz MostertWAUFord+0.1600s587Will BrownTriple EightChevrolet+0.2035s688Broc Feeney Triple EightChevrolet+0.2069s726Richie StanawayGroveFord+0.2154s811Anton De PasqualeDJRFord+0.2817s931James Golding PremiAirChevrolet+0.3521s1019Matt PayneGroveFord+0.3721s1155Thomas Randle TickfordFord+0.3948s129Jack Le BrocqErebusChevrolet+0.4592s1318Mark WinterbottomTeam 18Chevrolet+0.5017s1423Tim SladePremiAirChevrolet+0.5078s151Brodie KosteckiErebusChevrolet+0.5535s163Aaron LoveBRTFord+0.7402s1796Macauley JonesBJRChevrolet+0.7721s1810Nick PercatMSRChevrolet+0.8743s1920David ReynoldsTeam 18Chevrolet+0.8826s2017Will DavisonDJRFord+0.9073s2114Bryce FullwoodBJRChevrolet+1.1231s222Ryan Wood WAUFord+1.1972s234Cameron Hill MSRChevrolet+1.2344s2450Jaxon Evans BJRChevrolet+12.5841s
