Jarrod Hughes first to strike trouble, Will Brown clips wall
Chiko Camaro in the sand as Bathurst 1000 gets underway
Co-drivers back on track on Thursday afternoon
Erebus Motorsport rising star Jarrod Hughes became the first casualty of the 2026 Repco Bathurst 1000, amid a busy first practice session.
After taking over from Jobe Stewart, Hughes ran the #9 Chiko Chevrolet Camaro off the road at Hell Corner with 15 minutes remaining, triggering a red flag.
The Queenslander kept his Erebus Motorsport Camaro out of the barriers, but unable to get out of the sand, caused the first stoppage of the 2026 weekend.
It came after the #9 Camaro was forced into the lane with power steering issues.Hughes was one of many drivers to skirt the fine lines around Mount Panorama, amid a series of brake and balance complaints.
Will Brown, notably, clipped the inside wall at The Cutting in his #888 Red Bull Ampol Ford Mustang in the opening 20 minutes.
Several other cars went in and out of the garage as the session wore on, with the Anton De Pasquale/Lee Holdsworth #18 DEWALT Camaro first into the lane to complete precautionary brake bleed works.
Andre Heimgartner, meanwhile, surfed across the Brock’s Skyline tarmac run-off in his #8 R&J Batteries Toyota Supra, avoiding a costly incident in the first session.
As the session wound down, the Matt Payne Ford began to trail smoke, with Penrite Racing bringing the #19 Mustang in. The sister Ford of Kai Allen was one of two cars into the 2:05s, joined by PremiAir Racing's Jayden Ojeda.
Co-drivers return to the track for Practice 2 at 3:45pm AEDT.
