Bathurst 1000: Russell fastest, Allen stars in co-driver practice
David Russell topped co-driver practice for the Bathurst 1000 while Dick Johnson Racing wildcard Kai Allen was an impressive fourth fastest.
The second hour of running for the day was limited to co-drivers, with the primary drivers watching on from the garages.
Triple Eight's Richie Stanaway set the early pace in the #97 Red Bull Camaro, the Kiwi logging an impressive 2m06.384s on his first run.
That left him eight-tenths clear of the field when the first red flag of the day was called at the 10-minute mark.
The culprit was Dean Fiore, who locked the left-front tyre of the #14 BJR Camaro on the way into the final corner before ploughing into the tyre wall on the exit.
The recovery took around a quarter of an hour, five of the 15 minutes coming off the clock for the remainder of the session.
Not longer after the session went green there was a change at the top, David Russell edging Stanaway in the series leading Erebus entry with a 2m06.378s.
He then pulled seven-tenths clear of Stanaway on the next lap with a rapid 2m05.682s – the fastest lap of the weekend so far.
It was still the benchmark when the session came to a close, although the margin was shortened – ever so slightly – by Garth Tander's 2m06.335s in the #26 Grove Racing Mustang.
Stanaway ended up third thanks to his early lap, while Allen was the surprise of the session in the DJR wildcard entry. The Super2 frontrunner – making his main game debut – jumped up to fourth on his final run, which made him second-best of the Mustangs, and best of the DJR cars.
Zane Goddard was another impressive wildcard performer, ending up sixth in Triple Eight's third car. He was followed by Jamie Whincup in the #88 Red Bull Camaro and DJR pair Alex Davison (#17) and Tony D'Alberto (#11).
Jack Perkins was ninth fastest in the #9 Erebus car, which topped the earlier session today in the hands of Will Brown, with Lee Holdsworth rounding out the top 10 in the #25 WAU Mustang.
Fiore, meanwhile, will missed out on the remainder of the session after his contact with the wall.
"It wasn't ideal out there," he said. "We were on some pretty average tyres, just to bed myself in. I'm usually pretty steady when it comes to this stuff.
"I haven't done this in a while, so it wasn't an ideal start to the weekend. I really needed the laps in this car."
The Bathurst 1000 continues with a third hour-long practice session at 10am tomorrow local time.
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