Trick conditions, incidents punctuate opening practice
Cam Waters, Anton De Pasquale among drivers in trouble
Boost Mobile Qualifying set for 4:05pm local
The scene is set for a thrilling — and potentially season-defining — Boost Mobile Qualifying session in Surfers Paradise, following a dramatic opening practice session.
Several key contenders struck trouble as they traipsed around the greasy conditions on the Gold Coast, with James Golding going quickest of all through 25 minutes.
The Finals trio of Anton De Pasquale, Cam Waters and Ryan Wood all survived major scares in the session, with a spin for De Pasquale causing the session's only red flag.
The session began in inclement conditions, before the track rapidly dried out. The changable conditions reared their head throughout, with PremiAir Racing recruit Cooper Murray one of a number of drivers caught out at the final corner.
“It was a busy session everything dried out a bit before the end,” Murray said on the broadcast.
“I scratched the new car on my first day on the job, sorry to the boys.
“Conditions were tricky out there at the start, especially when the track was fully wet.
“But I had a ball driving around here in the wet, it was so cool.”
Two-time Gold Coast winner Waters joined Murray as drivers to slide into the tyre barriers at the last corner, something 2015 winner James Courtney attributed to brake locking.
“When the conditions are like that, the wet tyre starts to overheat,” Courtney said.
"Typically when you put the wet tyre on with the wet conditions, you put the [brake] bias on the rear.
“So you’re hunting through the bias as that tyre’s overheating and you’re getting more rear lock, so then you’re chasing the bias on the front.
“That dry line as well, you have a bit more speed, you get slightly offline with that rear lock, and to understeers into the fence, very easy to do.”
Waters tried and failed to stop his slide, but managed to avoid incurring significant damage on his Monster Energy Ford.
“You rear lock and then you front lock, you panic," 2015 Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom said.
“He gets desperate and jams the gear into first and tries to pull it up.
“Thankfully they didn’t hit very hard, if you go in there with a bit more speed, the tyres fall on the bonnet and you get stuck.
“That corner will rear its head again.”
Drivers get a final practice session at 1:50pm local, before Boost Mobile Qualifying at 4:05pm.
