Feeney escapes scare, Brown leads scorching Gold Coast pace

Will Brown has led a scorching practice pace at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, with several cars dipping below the practice/qualifying lap record.

Supercars were flying around the 2.9km circuit, given both the performance of the new 2025 tyre, and a new road surface laid at Turn 4 through to Turn 6, and into Turn 11.

Drivers initially dipped well below Payne's Gen3 record of 1:10.1508s. Then, Jamie Whincup's all-time circuit record of 1:09.9179s, set in 2017, was also knocked off.

All told, 16 of the 24 drivers went quicker than the previous Gen3 best, with 12 going under Whincup's time.

A dislodged tyre bundle at the front chicane triggered a lengthy stoppage, with the bundle replaced ahead of a four-minute dash to the finish.

Cars rolled out under sunny skies, with Brown leading the first flying laps with a 1:11.8602s. Payne (1:10.7315s) and Brown (1:10.8097s) lowered the benchmarks as tyres came up to temperature, before Reynolds pushed the number to a 1:10.3616s.

The pace continued to heat up, Payne dipping underneath the practice/qualifying lap record with his third lap, his 1:10.0697s. Reynolds, though, went even quicker, firing into the 1:09s with a 1:09.8664s.

Bathurst hero Cooper Murray was first to strike trouble, running into the Turn 11 escape road without incident.

Brown kicked off the second runs with a 1:10.0491s, before Feeney joined Reynolds in the 1:09s with a 1:09.9510s. The right-side mirror then parted company from Feeney's car out of the Beach Chicane, and was cleaned up by Allen.

At the 17-minute mark, Kostecki jumped to second with a 1:09.8824s, before Brown (1:09.7278s) and Wood (1:09.8167s) went even faster. Into the final 10 laps, Payne lowered the number to a 1:09.7124s, before red flags flew.

Randle kicked off an absorbing final flurry of times with a 1:09.5822s after the stoppage, before Kostecki nailed a 1:09.5501s to march ahead.

Murray then split the Fords with a 1:09.5699s, before Feeney (1:09.3792s), Brown (1:09.4192s) and Randle (1:09.4903s) pressed on.

Kostecki split the Red Bull Ampol Camaros with a 1:09.4137s, as Brown jumped ahead of his teammate with a 1:09.2663s, followed by Wood (1:09.2888s). All the while, Feeney slapped the tyre barriers at Turn 13.

The session wasn't without headaches for some teams; notably, Cameron Hill parked up after the stoppage with suspected steering rack issues.

Anton De Pasquale (11th), Kai Allen (12th) and Chaz Mostert (13th) were the only Finals Drivers to miss the 10, with fifth-placed Richie Stanaway the highest-placed non-Finals contender.

Supercars action resumes with Practice 2 at 3:25pm local time/4:25pm AEDT.