Ekstrom Cracks Top Three

Triple Eight continues to dominate, and while #888 Red Bull Racing driver Warren Luff topped the day’s co-driver practice session, followed by Paul Dumbrell in the #1 the surprise was international rookie Mattias Ekstrom.

In the wildcard Xbox Triple Eight entry, Ekstrom topped the times midway through the session and finished third.

He was followed by Steve Johnson in the SP Tools Mercedes and Jack Perkins in the Fujitsu GRM car.

Perkins had jumped straight from the Dunlop Series qualifying session, which finished 15 minutes prior to the main series practice.

The first Ford was down in seventh, with Steve Owen behind the wheel of the Pepsi Max FPR #6 Falcon. Owen claimed ARMOR ALL Pole Position in that Dunlop Series session and is one of eight drivers competing across both categories this weekend.

The two RBRA cars were the only ones in the 2min08s, with Luff recording a 2min08.4794 to clinch the session with a few minutes to go.

The top 10 was rounded out by Greg Ritter (#34), Luke Youlden (#14), Owen, David Russell (the first Nissan, #7) and Taz Douglas (#360).

Others to note include Steven Richards (#5) in position 14, Dale Wood (#17) 15, John McIntyre (#18) 18 after the Jeld-Wen car was repaired overnight, Greg Murphy (#22) 20, and Nick Percat (#2) 24.

Another practice session featuring all drivers begins at 11.05am AEDT, ahead of this afternoon’s qualifying session at 3pm.

Click here for full session results.