Brown bests wet-dry final Supercars practice

Wet weather caused some headaches but Will Brown was able to nail a lap at the death to give Triple Eight a practice sweep on opening day at Bathurst.

A heavy shower saw Anton De Pasquale and David Reynolds aquaplaning at the start of the session while another red for Will Davison’s slide off pit exit set up a one-lap Shootout simulation on fresh, slick tyres.

Hazelwood led before the break and was the first to have a crack at the death, posting a 2:08.0347.

This appeared to be the best until Brown stopped the clock with a 2:07.5507, four tenths clear of the Erebus Motorsport driver.

Practice 1 leader Broc Feeney also delivered under pressure to be third, half a second away while seven tenths off the ultimate pace was the leading Mustang of Matt Payne.

A massive downpour at the start of the session as both De Pasquale and Reynolds aquaplanned off at the Chase.

De Pasquale was the first on the scene, losing control in the braking area and skated into the gravel, spinning 180 degrees.

The same thing happened to Reynolds as he lost control slightly later and spun around before whacking the concrete side on.

However, he did a good job to limit the damage, but still could not avoid contact with the wall and also getting stuck in the gravel.

With both beached the red flag was needed to retrieve the cars.

“I just got a heap of rain all at once at the chase and aquaplaned all the way into the gravel,” De Pasquale said.

“I was out of control for a long time (but) no big dramas. Just a bit of gravel to clean out.”

“I came around the corner and had my own accident,” Reynolds recalled.

“I did my out lap and everything felt normal and then there must have been a big downpour and there were sheets of class everywhere.

“I should not have been going that fast but I was not even in sixth gear. It was just nuts.”

Of the first flying laps Fullwood was fastest with a 2:26.5537, seven tenths ahead of Slade.

But with the sun out the conditions continued to improve as Fullwood, Feeney, Mostert, Davison, Wood and Brown all enjoyed stunts at the top.

As the session approached the halfway mark a dry line started to appear and Brown became the first to complete a 2m20s lap.

Evans came close but Mostert then blew it away by a full second as the track was becoming ever drier.

Fullwood was still battling and went off at The Chase and then a lap later he was in more trouble, crawling to the pits after sliding side-on into the concrete in the run up to Forest’s Elbow.

As Golding went to the top with the first 2m18s, his teammate Tim Slade was the first on slicks and went to third on his first flyer.

Slade went to the top on his third lap with a 2:17.3862 only for Golding to shoot clear.

He was the first into the 2m11s window and it was not until the final 12 minutes that drivers started to pass his mark.

Davison then hit the 2m10s mark and was quickly surpassed by Courtney and Hazelwood with the latter dipping into the 2m9s window.

Hazelwood’s 2:09.7887 was the top time when the red was waved for Davison getting stuck at pit entry.

The veteran was caught out by the slipperier pit entry and slid into the gravel.

Despite the mistake Davison persisted with trying to creep back into the pis but got bogged in doing so.

With just three minutes remaining the session went green again to set up a one lap dash on fresh tyres and the entire field took on the challenge.

Golding was the only driver to come undone, skating off at Murrays Corner, while a host improved with the track drier and faster then ever.

In the end Brown went faster than all, being the only one in the 2m07s window, four tenths ahead of Hazelwood.

The pressure steps up as qualifying awaits at 10.20 AEDT tomorrow morning.

Image by Peter Norton EPIC Sports Photography

2024 Bathurst 500 Practice 2 results

2024 Bathurst 500 Supercars schedule

Friday, February 23

Practice 1: 1: B. Feeney 2: N. Percat 3: W. Brown

Practice 2: 16.20-17.20

Saturday, February 24

Qualifying: 10.20

Top 10 Shootout: 13.05

Race 1 (40 laps): 16.10

Sunday, February 25

Qualifying: 09.30

Top 10 Shootout: 12.05

Race 1 (40 laps): 15.05

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