It was a tale of two sessions for Red Bull Ampol Racing as the Repco Supercars Championship officially began its Finals season at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.
Will Brown led the way in the session on a 1m 09.266s ahead of Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing’s Ryan Wood by 0.022s and teammate Broc Feeney in third, but the latter had a wild opening to the Gold Coast weekend.
Feeney scrapped the side of his Chevrolet Camaro at various stages during the session and at the end, he made significant contact with the Turn 11 tyre wall. It appears Feeney got away with just cosmetic damage.
Brodie Kostecki made it four Finals drivers at the top in the Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Mustang from the PremiAir Racing Camaro of Richie Stanaway, who is on the search for a co-drive in 2026.
Monster Castrol Racing’s Thomas Randle was sixth followed by Bathurst winner Matt Payne for Penrite Racing, Erebus Motorsport rookie Cooper Murray, David Reynolds in the TRADIE Energy Racing entry and Cam Waters.
Finals drivers Anton De Pasquale, Kai Allen and Chaz Mostert filled the next three positions outside the top 10.
A steering rack problem prevented Cam Hill from advancing further than 24th.
The Repco Supercars Championship Friday action continues with Practice 2 at 3:25pm AEST/4:25pm ADST.