V8 Supercars Australia Day 2 and Day 1 Recap [Photos]
Here are the latest happenings at the V8 Supercars Australia Day 2 (Oct 11) and Day 1 (Oct 10)
Day 2 - Oct 11
Mostert crashed at a Quarry Bend in a DJR Falcon FG. Mostert's car panels were damaged as it hit into concrete walls on both sides of the road before stopping into a crash. The practice session had to be stopped as the car needed to be transported back to the pits on the back of a flat-bed truck, V8 Supercars reported through their Web site.
Mostert was given medical aid and was fortunately discharged without serious injury.
Mostert was racing fourth before the crash happened 23 minutes into the session and sat eighth in the times from the session.
Meanwhile, Red Bull Australia's Jamie Whincup topped the session after the chequered flag. Top five for the session were Jason Bright, Will Davision, Mark Winterbottom and Michael Caruso. Top ten for the session were Fabian van Gisbergen, Mostert, James Courtney and Lee Howrdsorth.
As the practice session continued until the afternoon's qualifying session at 3pm AEDT, Triple Eight continues to dominate.
#888 Red Bull Racing driver Warren Luff topped the the day's co-driver practice session, while Mattias Ekstrom surprised everyone as he topped the times midway, finishing third.
Steve Johnson in the SP Tools Mercedes and Jack Perkins in the Fujitsu GRM car followed Ekstrom at fourth and fifth place; Ford finished down in seventh with Seteve Owen behind the wheel of the Pepsi Max FPR #6 Falcon.
Top ten for the session were Greg Ritter, Luke Youlden, Owen, David Russel and Taz Douglas.
While Steven Richards, Dale Wood, Jock McIntyre, Jeld-Wen, Greg Murphy and Nick Percat had a notable performance.
Day 1 - Oct 10
Tim Slade/Andrew Thompson Erebus Motorsport V8 Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG had been waiting for final decision if it will continue in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 after crashing the Heavy Haulage Australia Benz early on the first day. The front-end of the car was being fixed on Thursday night and a full evaluation of the damage will be the basis of the announcement by Friday.
"The entire Erebus Motorsport crew has been climbing over the car and working feverously to try and get a true estimate of the damage. There are still several processes we have to go through until we can make a decision on whether we will have a car that can be fixed in time to be safe and competitive. Obviously, one of the things we mindful of is that his car also has to be at the ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600 in 10 days time," Erebus Motorsport CEO Ryan Maddison stated.
"We have been inundated by well wishes from fans and you can be assured we will be doing everything in our power to have three Erebus entries on the grid on Sunday. We have been inundated by well wishes from fans and you can be assured we will be doing everything in our power to have three Erebus entries on the grid on Sunday. Tim (Slade) is obviously shattered at this situation, but we are thankful that he has come away unharmed despite such an impact. We want nothing more than for him and Andrew to be out there competing on behalf of Erebus Motorsport on Sunday," he added.
Slade, on the other hand, took full responsibility.
"What do you say? I just feel bad for my crew and everyone who has worked so hard at Erebus," said Slade who is back in the garage assisting his crew. I was a little wide at turn three the lap before and obviously too shallow the next. I clipped the wall, damaged the steering and then hit the wall at four. I am a little sore in the shoulders (from) the belts and stuff, but that's about it. Unfortunately we now have a waiting game and hopefully we can make the grid."
Meanwhile, four-time champion Jamie Whincup was impressive as he finished the practice session in a 2min08.3240. However, Whincup said that the humid temperature set a challenging environment for all the teams.
"It wasn't the ideal conditions to go fast. We got it reasonably right at the end which was nice," Whincup said.
This was confirmed by other drivers as well.
"The temperature is having a massive effect and guys are trying to push the cars hard when they are unbalanced and there is more margin to make a mistake. That is where we are at. We can see what the time is, we think we should be faster but we can't because the car is doing some things that it doesn't usually do when the temps cool, " according to Richards.
"The track has deteriorated over the years and conditions were tough today... ," Winterbottom observed.