Feeney fastest in season-opening Bathurst 500 practice

Broc Feeney set the pace in this afternoon’s opening practice session of the Bathurst 500, with an early 2:07.955 topping Matt Stone Racing’s Nick Percat by two-tenths of a second in an interrupted outing.

Andre Heimgartner was the fastest of the five-strong Kiwi contingent, setting the fourth-quickest lap, while Richie Stanaway was sixth, having only completed six laps.

Two red flags briefly paused proceedings in the first half of the session, with Stanway the cause of the second of those on contact with the wall at The Dipper.

Jack Le Brocq’s first official outing at Erebus Motorsport was compromised after just two corners, with the #9 Camaro coming to a halt on track in the first minute, bringing out an early red flag.

Once proceedings resumed, Red Bull’s Feeney and Will Brown set the early pace, with the #88 leading the way after 20 minutes with a 2:07.9551. Heimgartner sat third, one spot ahead of Richie Stanaway, while Matt Payne also ran in the top ten.

Stanaway was the next driver to face trouble, with the defending Bathurst 1000 champion collecting the right-hand wall at The Dipper, rebounding across the track and into the outside barriers, damaging the left side of the #26 Mustang.

Stanaway was forced to pull over entering Conrod Straight, bringing out the session’s second red flag as it entered the final 30 minutes.

A fuel leak in the Erebus garage caused trouble for Red Bull, who were forced to clean up a mess when it flowed under the wall and into their shed.

There was little movement on the timesheets after the one-hour session’s mid-point until Matt Stone Racing’s Nick Percat jumped to second on the standings with 15 minutes to run.

Macauley Jones, Bryce Fullwood and Mark Winterbottom required the Turn 1 runoff at various times over the session, executing flick-turns and returning to the track without interruption to proceedings.

The majority of the field sat in the pit lane entering the final minutes, changing tyres and returning for final flying laps.

Cameron Hill jumped to the top five with four minutes on the clock, while Payne improved his time to leapfrog Todd Hazelwood into ninth.

Evans also improved on his lap to jump to 13th, as did Hazelwood, who re-bumped Payne to tenth. However, the Kiwi Adelaide 500 race-winner would improve again to finish the session as the eighth fastest.

No one would challenge Feeney’s fastest lap, which came on his second circuit and was the fastest of the session by 0.258 from Percat.

However, a flurry of late times shook up the mid-field, with Ryan Wood, who remained in pit lane, bumping to 21st, while Evans finished in 15th.

Supercars return to the track at 6.20 pm this evening for the second and final practice session.

Bathurst 500 Practice 1 Results