Brown tops final Bathurst 500 practice in mixed conditions

Rain greeted competitors for the start of the second and final practice session of the Bathurst 500 at Mount Panorama, but conditions quickly improved, and times tumbled over 70 minutes of running.

Through it all, Red Bull’s Will Brown topped the leaderboard with a late 2:07.5507 to better Erebus Motorsport’s Todd Hazelwood by half a second.

Matt Payne was the fastest of the five-strong Kiwi contingent in fourth overall, while Andre Heimgartner also featured in the top ten.

As was the case in the first session, two red flags delayed proceedings during the run, with the first coming almost immediately when David Reynolds and Anton De Pasquale aquaplaned on pools of water at the end of The Chase.

De Pasquale stranded in the sand, while Reynold made contact with the wall before coming to a stop nearby, bringing out the red flag.

There was plenty of improvement over the leaderboard as conditions slowly improved, with Wood leading on the timesheet approaching the half-hour mark before Heimgartner jumped to the top with 30 minutes remaining.

Evans then moved up to second before Brown vaulted to the front. At the halfway point, three Kiwis sat in the top five.

Times continued to tumble, and slick tyres were in order for the final 25 minutes, with Tim Slade the first to make the change.

Bryce Fullwood was the next to find trouble, losing control heading into Forrest’s Elbow and hitting the inside wall. He was able to return to pit lane for repairs.

The slick tyre runners saw early improvements of over eight seconds a lap on the early times set on wets, with Golding’s 2:12.938 leading the way with 15 minutes to run.

Hazelwood continued to impress on his Erebus debut, setting a 2:09.7887 in the final 10 minutes to take the lead, while Payne went just two-tenths slower on a late flyer to jump to second.

The second red flag was called immediately after that, with seven minutes remaining, as Will Davison slid into the sand while entering the pit lane on a wet surface.

Proceedings resumed with three minutes to run to allow for a qualifying simulation, with all 24 competitors taking to the track.

The majority of the field improved on their best laps as the chequered flag flew, with Hazelwood first across the line with a 2:08.0347. Of the trailing field, only Brown was able to top this, breaking the 2:08 barrier to top the session by 0.4840,

Payne’s late 2:08.2770 placed him fourth as the fastest of the Kiwis, while Heimgartner placed eighth for his second top-ten placing of the day.

Wood impressed in the difficult conditions for 11th, while Stanaway was 18th, one place ahead of Evans.

Supercars return to the track at 12.20 pm on Saturday (NZ time) for qualifying, with the Top 10 Shootout following at 3.05 pm and the 40-lap season opener going green at 6.10 pm.

Bathurst 500 Practice 2 Results

Header Image: Supercars