Mystery dramas for Le Brocq, Randle

Two Finals contenders have been undone in a tricky opening session at the NTI Townsville 500.

Jack Le Brocq and Thomas Randle were the major casualties of a session dominated by the returning Brodie Kostecki on Friday morning.

Randle fought braking troubles all session, and wound up 21st with just nine laps to his name through 45 minutes.

The #55 Castrol Mustang was alleged to have been tracking under braking, forcing Randle in and out of the garage throughout the sole practice session of the weekend.

At the death, drama struck the #4 Sherrin Rentals Camaro of Le Brocq, who suffered a suspected steering failure through the Turn 7/8/9 complex.

Le Brocq kept his Chevrolet out of the wall, but triggered a red flag that denied the field laying down qualifying simulations.

“I’ve lost all steering, the steering wheel’s not connected to anything,” Le Brocq told his team.

“I’m stuck, I can’t turn the car.”

Le Brocq later reiterated that point to Supercars.com, saying “something broke” while in debrief to his team.

Tickford Racing, meanwhile, is changing the steering rack in Randle’s Ford, the Victorian saying mid-session: “I wish we knew what it was.

“It’s tracking weird under brakes, you don’t really want that here, at a street circuit, or anywhere.

“We’ve tried a few things, nothing’s seemed to rectify it yet, which is obviously frustrating when you’re got one practice session and you’re straight into qualifying.

“The team’s working hard to work out what it is. It’s not ideal.”

Boost Mobile Qualifying will commence at 12:55pm local time.