BRT’s James Courtney snatched Practice 1 honours from David Reynolds in a fast VAILO Adelaide 500 Supercars opener.
All the way to the chequered flag Reynolds led the way in the #20 Team 18 Camaro as the only driver in the 1m19s club.
However, Courtney nailed his 14th and final lap to steal the session with a 1:19.6835.
He went 0.1553s clear of Reynolds and gave the battling BRT squad a massive boost ahead of the season finale after a tough season where only two top 10s have been possible.
“It is only Thursday, but that feels like a win for us to be honest,” Courtney admitted.
“It has been a tough year and we have found some good speed.
“The car was really good straight out of the gate and it was fast at the Gold Coast, so we rolled the same philosophy.
“We tuned it really well and only made one change that did not go our way. The car was mint.”
MSR also looked fast with Nick Percat in third with a 1m20s flat ahead of Will Davison and Chaz Mostert.
The championship contenders remained out of trouble and logged laps with Will Brown getting the early upper hand in sixth, seven spots ahead of Broc Feeney.
Whilst drivers stayed away from the barriers, they struggled to avoid the Turn 1 tyre bundle.
Anton De Pasquale destroys his front splitter at the chicane. Image: Peter Norton
A red flag was caused by Percat when he hit the bundle and the grill parted company with the #10 Camaro.
The likes of Anton De Pasquale, Bryce Fullwood and Matt Payne also had hefty whacks.
De Pasquale suffered the biggest hit with the lefthand side of the grill of the #11 DJR Mustang being destroyed.
Perfect sunny skies greeted the Supercars field for the first practice session of the 25th anniversary VAILO Adelaide 500.
Reynolds was fast out of the gates, with his 1:20.3476 just enough to squeeze ahead of the Matt Stone Racing teammates.
Just 0.0441s split Reynolds and Percat, but the times kept lowering as the track rubbered up.
Mostert crept marginally ahead of the #20 before the MSR boys went to the top.
Percat led a MSR 1-2 over Hill by a tenth as Courtney also pulled a surprise in third.
It only took eight minutes for the first 1m19s time to be displayed thanks to Reynolds.
On his fourth lap Reynolds strung three purple sectors together to post a strong 1:19.8388.
Despite the Team 18 driver showing speed, the times then settled down as Kostecki crept into the top five.
Whilst he was not the first to hit the Turn 1 tyre bundle, Percat certainly had the battle scars to prove his hit, with the grill styling parting company.
With the incident leaving debris in the middle of the Senna Chicane, a red flag was waved at the halfway mark of the session.
When the session resumed Courtney was the first to make a move, rising to second and edging ahead of Brown.
Golding had a close call on his first lap back, kissing the tyres on the exit of Turn 6.
Mostert snatched fifth from Kostecki, who spent the last 10 minutes in the garage with front rail extension damage after he “tried to do my best Cam Waters impersonation.”
Despite this, the #1 Erebus Camaro stayed seventh amid the final flurry.
Davison was the first to make a move 10th to second, but that turned to fourth as both Percat and Courtney found further pace at the death.
In a nice surprise, it was Courtney, who had the ultimate pace, finally joining Reynolds in the 1m19s club and going a further tenth better.
After a tough season where BRT has battled to find the top 10, ending the opening day of the VAILO Adelaide 500 is the perfect start for Courtney and his small team.
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