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The gods have kept Greg Murphy’s lap safe – for now – as V8 Supercars’ frontrunners struggled to come to grips with the new track surface at Mount Panorama.
Ford Performance Racing (FPR) youngster Chaz Mostert was fastest in the opening practice session for this weekend’s Bathurst 1000, clocking a time of two minutes, 8.0736 seconds on Thursday.
Nissan’s James Moffat was second on the timesheets, followed by Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander and James Courtney, and Ford driver David Reynolds in fifth.
Championship leader and favourite Jamie Whincup was seventh fastest, with his teammate and five-time mountain conquerer Lowndes in 12th.
FPR’s defending Bathurst champion Mark Winterbottom shared time on track with new co-driver Steve Owen, whose lap was 10th quickest of the morning.
Mostert’s trip was more than two seconds faster than the top time set in the same session last year, but still short of Craig Lowndes’ all-time record of 2:06.8012 from practice in 2010.
While Lowndes’ is officially the fastest in V8s history, it’s Murphy’s Lap of the Gods (2:06.8594) – laid down in 2003’s memorable Top 10 shootout – that most drivers regard as the greatest ever.
It remains, by far, the best qualifying lap time in 53 editions of the race.
Both have been tipped to fall this weekend following a $2 million upgrade of Australia’s best-known public road.
It took just 10 minutes for the grippy new surface to draw first blood, with David Wall clipping the fence after his tyre popped.
The incident sparked a red flag, bringing the session to a halt.
The No.17 Ford for Dick Johnson Racing is this week donning a special yellow paint scheme to mark 20 years since Johnson’s last Bathurst victory with John Bowe in the EB Shell Falcon.
But it seems retro liveries have become a point of bad luck for the iconic V8 Supercars team.
Last year, Mostert suffered a horror crash driving for DJR during final practice before qualifying for the Great Race.
Mostert’s Falcon was one of two that adopted Johnson’s famous “Green Meanie” colours 30 years after he first took to the mountain in the now trademark shade.
Whincup had tipped a whole lot of craziness at Mount Panorama during practice on Thursday and Friday, with teams using the time to assess the impact that greater track speeds will have on tyre wear and fuel.
“We’ve pretty much thrown out all the information we’ve got on Bathurst from previous years,” said Whincup, who’s conquered the mountain four times before.
“It’s a brand new track, which means we start from scratch and everyone competes equally.
“We’ll use Thursday and Friday to try and make the car as nice to drive as possible.
“Everyone will be going absolutely crazy and really grabbing those little practice sessions, we’ve got to try and improve the car as much as we can.
“(The race) is six and a half hours, so if you don’t have a good car to drive you’re generally going to find a wall somewhere.”
Two more practice sessions are scheduled for Thursday, ahead of qualifying on Friday afternoon.
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