Weather set in at the Thrifty Bathurst 500 catching out some experienced drivers early on as Will Brown and Broc Feeney put the Red Bull Ampol Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s at the top of the timesheets.
Rain at the start proved treacherous leaving Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Anton De Pasquale and David Reynolds in the TRADIE Racing Camaro ZL1 both aquaplaned into the gravel trap at The Chase red flagging the session.
For its majority, conditions were wet until the closing stages of the session enabling Brown to set a 2m 07.550s lap finishing the day on top, but last year’s rival Erebus Motorsport remain in touch despite the turbulent off-season.
It was Todd Hazelwood leading the Erebus charge in second sandwiched by the two Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaros as Broc Feeney rounded out the top three, with Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne placing his Penrite Racing Ford Mustang in fourth.
Nick Percat continued Matt Stone Racing’s good form in fifth as Monster Energy Racing’s Cam Waters enjoyed an improved run compared to the opening session to lead the Pizza Hut Racing Camaro of Macauley Jones, the R&J Batteries example of Andre Heimgartner and the second Matt Stone Racing entry of Tyrepower’s Cameron Hill.
Replicating the Mustang count from the opening session was Chaz Mostert in the third to make the top 10 in his Mobil 1 Optus Ford, who led impressive teammate Ryan Wood.
Reynolds recovered to be 12th after his off at The Chase just ahead of De Pasquale, Bryce Fullwood and James Courtney.
The session endured a late red flag when Will Davison spun at Murray’s Corner on the still drying surface and was stuck in the gravel trap leaving just over two minutes of the session remaining.
Qualifying, Top 10 Shootout and the opening race occur tomorrow starting at 10:20am AEDT.