TeamVodafone Holden V8 Supercar driver Jamie Whincup has finished fastest on the first day of the 2012 Supercheap Bathurst 1000.
The reigning V8 Supercars champion posted a best of 2.07.3565s, some 0.46 seconds faster than the next best which came from Ford Performance Racing’s Will Davison.
Whincup however played down his blistering pace out of the box.
“Clearly, Thursday means nothing,” Whincup said. “The cars pretty quick. We had a go with some new tyres and had a ball. Looking forward to the rest of the weekend , hopefully the weather stays as good as it is right now.”
Whincup’s teammate and race favourite Craig Lowndes was also in the sub-2:08min zone, but he too played down the timesheets on the first of four days on Mt Panorama.
“We’re going through our program and making changes and making it nicer to drive,” Lowndes said. “For us, the end result is obviously Sunday. But pretty happy with the car. Warren and I are feeing comforatable. It’s all going to plan.
“We need to find a bit more pace as a qualifying car, but as a race car we’re looking pretty good.”
Bottle-O Racing Ford driver David Reynolds and Lockwood Racing Holden pilot Fabian Coulthard completing the top five.
There were reports of a kangaroo close to Conrod Straight but all three sessions ran without major incident.
1. J.Whincup/P.Dumbrell Holden 2:07.3565
2. W.Davison/J.McIntyre Ford +0.46
3. Craig Lowndes Holden +0.6227
4. D.Reynolds/D.Canto Ford +0.7026
5. Fabian Coulthard Holden +0.8049
6. J.Courtney/C.McConville Holden +0.8524
7. Jason Bright Holden +0.9610
8. Michael Caruso Holden +1.1830
9. T.D’Alberto/D.Wood Ford +1.2881
10. Mark Winterbottom Ford +1.2964
11. S.Owen/P.Morris Ford +1.3443
12. Dean Fiore Ford +1.3654
13. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford +1.5210
14. R.Ingall/C.Klien Holden +1.5310
15. Lee Holdsworth Ford +1.5345
16. Garth Tander Holden +1.6010
17. Tim Slade Ford +1.6318
18. Jonathon Webb Holden +1.6363
19. Steven Johnson Ford +1.6733
20. Alexandre Premat Holden +1.73
21. James Moffat Ford +1.73
22. G.Murphy/O.Kelly Holden +1.7485
23. David Wall Holden +1.7997
24. Todd Kelly Holden +1.8619
25. M.Patrizi/J.Reid Holden +1.9619
26. Rick Kelly Holden +2.0483
27. T.Douglas/S.Pye Holden +2.6810
28. Karl Reindler Holden +2.9715
29. C.Waters/J.Dixon Holden +4.65
