Red flags dominate final Super2 practice at Bathurst
Tickford's Ben Gomersall fastest at Mount Panorama
Ayrton Hodson suffers heavy crash in The Esses
The second and final practice session for the DUNLOP Super2 Series at the Repco Bathurst 1000 has been heavily disrupted by two red flag periods.
Tickford Autosport driver Ben Gomersall was fastest, though approximately half of the 40-minute session was consumed by red flag time, as the Mountain claimed its first victim for the weekend.
Having had 40 minutes to bed themselves in on Friday morning, limits were pushed early as Lochie Dalton fired through the short cut over Skyline, with Blanchard Racing Team teammate Bailey Sweeny replicating the feat mere moments later.
The red flags would fly for the first time all weekend after just eight minutes, with Matt Hillyer pinching an inside front at Hell Corner and sailing into the gravel.
At that stage Dalton was fastest on a 2:08.3883s, just 0.0877s ahead of Reuben Goodall, who wagged the tail of his Mustang on the run to McPhillamy Park on his flying lap.
Times were still a long way down on Dalton's morning benchmark of a 2:07.2569s, and wouldn't improve in a hurry as the red flags came out once again as Ayrton Hodson found the wall at The Esses.
The #28 Matt Stone Racing Commodore got crossed up off the kerb, collecting the inside wall before ricocheting into the outside wall on driver's left. The Kiwi would be done for the session with extensive damage to the right side of the car.
With effectively half of the session wiped out, the 17 remaining cars rolled back out with 12 minutes remaining on the clock, and a majority of those cars on a green tyre for qualifying simulations.
Ben Gomersall made the most of his new tyres early, setting the fastest time of the day on a 2:07.1748s, before going almost a second faster on a second flyer with a 2:06.2363s.
Gomersall's flyer would prove to be unbeatable, despite drivers having the best part of five minutes to beat it, with Jonathon Webb getting the closest with a 2:06.3565s.
Brad Vaughan was third, and topped the Holden brigade for Brad Jones Racing, with Dalton and Goodall rounding out the top 10.
Super2 will next be on track for Boost Mobile Qualifying at 9:00am on Friday morning, which will be followed by a Boost Mobile Top Five Shootout.
