Disaster for Triple Eight, wildcards shine in co-driver practice

Veterans and wildcards have soared in Practice 5 at The Bend, with Saturday morning's running getting off to a shock start following a crash between Triple Eight's co-drivers.

James Moffat (#55 Castrol Ford) and Lee Holdsworth (#20 TRADIE Energy Chevrolet) led the way in the final session designated for co-drivers, followed by the three wildcard entries.

Rylan Gray, Aaron Seton and Zach Bates filled out the top five, but the headlines belonged to Red Bull Ampol Racing after a bizarre tangle under Safety Car test conditions.

After a Friday punctuated by showers, co-drivers rolled out to sunny skies at The Bend Motorsport Park, albeit with a crosswind sailing through the venue.

The field was immediately neutralised by the Safety Car test, but as cars exited Turn 3 and approached the slow zone from Turns 4 to 7, high drama struck the championship-leading team.

Aboard Will Brown's #1 entry, Scott Pye was hit by Jamie Whincup's #88 sister car, with the former dragging his damaged Camaro back to pit lane.

Whincup returned and ended up 15th, but Pye was rubbed out for the rest of the session and was 27th and last, having not completed a representative flying lap.

The #1 Camaro copped heavy damage to the left rear corner, with the impact generating enough force to necessitate a transaxle change ahead of the final practice session of the weekend.

The incident will be investigated post-session, whilst Zak Best (#3 BRT Mustang), Cameron McLeod, and Tim Slade (#4 and #10 MSR Camaros) were also noted for incidents during the Safety Car procedure test.

Driving the #35 Camaro alongside Cameron Crick for Matt Stone Racing, Seton featured at the top of the timesheets throughout the session, with the third generation driver making his first Supercars appearance since the 2022 Bathurst 1000.

Current Dunlop Super2 Series leader Gray was also fast throughout in the #5 Tickford wildcard he'll share with Super2 teammate Lochie Dalton, and looked set to pinch the fastest time at the death before pitting on his final flyer.

Whilst Holdsworth finished the session in second, the 2021 Bathurst winner did pull into the garage complaining about an unusual feeling in the rear end of the #20 Camaro, following on from electrical dramas throughout yesterday's running.

The top 10 was rounded out by Declan Fraser (#8 BJR Camaro), Mark Winterbottom (#6 Tickford Mustang), Jayden Ojeda (#2 WAU Mustang), Harri Jones (#18 Team 18 Camaro), and Fabian Coulthard (#25 WAU Mustang).

Drivers return for final practice at 12:00pm local/12:30pm AEST, followed by Boost Mobile Qualifying at 3:05pm local/3:35pm AEST.

Saturday's action concludes with the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 4:50pm local/5:20pm AEST.