‘Mixture of bravery and stupidity’: Drivers wary of chicane chaos
Supercars drivers wary of Gold Coast 500 chicane chaos
Cars flew through the famous Beach Chicane amid relaxed rules
Bryce Fullwood crashed out of Practice 2 on Friday
The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit's world-famous chicanes are set to play a more crucial role than ever as Supercars drivers chase speed and all-important grid spots.
Finding lap time matters on the Gold Coast, where the race winner has started on pole position in 19 of the last 28 completed races. The last eight Gold Coast races have been won from the front row of the grid.
The importance of qualifying goes to a new level this weekend, though, as 10 Finals Drivers hunt a spot at Sandown.
Friday’s action was headlined by extraordinary scenes at the Beach Chicane, as drivers pushed — and often breached — the limits. Lap times dipped considerably, courtesy of resurfacing works at Turns 4 and 11, and aided by the new-for-2025 Dunlop Soft tyre.
Kerb loops have been a major talking point for years on the Gold Coast. However, solutions were found last year and retained for 2025, leading to Friday's action as drivers zeroed in on all-important Boost Mobile Qualifying.
As it was for the remainder of the 2024 event, the 2025 event has no active loops at Turn 2 and Turn 9, the central corners of both chicanes.
Practice 1 last year was headlined by 189 kerb strikes, all of which were at the Beach Chicane. The Turn 9 kerb loop was then deactivated for Practice 2 in another trial, and remained off for the rest of the weekend. It came after the sensor at Turn 2 had been deactivated for Practice 1 in a trial by Supercars and Motorsport Australia, in consultation with drivers.
On Friday, only two drivers — Cooper Murray and Jaxon Evans — troubled the Turn 8 loop in Practice 1, while 14 drivers triggered the Turn 10 loop. Rookies Kai Allen and Aaron Cameron triggered the Turn 10 loop seven and eight times respectively.
Chicanes will be policed as they were last year, per the Competitors and Drivers Briefing Instructions:
During a Practice, Qualifying or TTSO session any driver triggering a track limit loop will have that lap time deleted.
During Races short cutting of a chicane will be referred to the Stewards.
All Kerb loops will be as per the 2024 races.
Bryce Fullwood was first to be bitten by the Beach Chicane, crashing out of Practice 2. Given the speed drivers are now carrying, the Brad Jones Racing driver quipped: "If the car's not four wheels off the ground, you're slow here."
Walkinshaw Andretti United's Ryan Wood, who ended up second quickest on Friday, delivered the most thrilling moments over the kerbs. However, the Kiwi admitted it wasn't without its scares.
"It's pretty dicey out there at the moment,” Wood said post-session.
"I feel more in control off the ground than I do on the ground, so I'll probably keep that going into tomorrow as well."
Two-time Gold Coast winner David Reynolds, who was lead Chevrolet driver in fourth, gave a more colourful explanation: "I'm sitting here thinking, what are we doing? It's actually stupid what we're trying to achieve out there.
"It's a lot different to last year, they had restrictions through the chicanes, but now they've been removed and it's a mixture of bravery and stupidity to do the fastest lap time.
"Generally, the dumber you are, the faster you go, and we were fourth dumbest today."
What seems certain is there will be more drama, given there is no more practice. Drivers will head straight into Boost Mobile Qualifying at 11:00am AEST/12:00pm AEDT.
