Townsville Supercars: Van Gisbergen sets P1 pace

The series leader effectively lead the way throughout the half-hour session, his 1m13.688 coming in the first 10 minutes.

That was as fast as he went, however it proved good enough to hang on to top spot at the end.

Fellow Kiwi Andre Heimgartner went closest to knocking van Gisbergen off, his final run taking him within a tenth.

Scott Pye sat second for much of the session courtesy of a 1m13.892s before being bumped back to third by Heimgartner's late improvement.

Will Davison edged Dick Johnson Racing teammate Anton De Pasquale in fourth and fifth while Broc Feeney was a promising sixth.

David Reynolds was seventh despite complaining of a lack of balance in his Grove Racing Mustang while Todd Hazelwood recovered from a trip down the escape road to finish eighth fastest.

Tim Slade and Mark Winterbottom rounded out the Top 10.

James Golding, meanwhile, marked his return as a full-time driver with the 23rd best time, just over a second off the pace.

That was despite having never driven the PremiAir Racing Holden before the session.

"Back where I belong, that's what it feels like," he said.

"I'm just getting back in a rhythm, getting used to everything in the car. The good thing is the Team 18 cars are Triple Eight[-built] as well, so all the buttons are in the same spot.

"It's just about settling in and getting used to all of the processes again. But I'm feeling pretty comfortable."

Practice continues with a second half-hour sessions at 2:50pm local time.

Townsville 500 Practice 1 results

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Interval
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1'13.6883
2	8	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore ZB	1'13.7857	0.0974	0.0974
3	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1'13.8927	0.2044	0.1070
4	17	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	1'13.9299	0.2416	0.0372
5	11	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	1'13.9332	0.2449	0.0033
6	88	Broc Feeney	Holden Commodore ZB	1'13.9542	0.2659	0.0210
7	26	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	1'14.0289	0.3406	0.0747
8	35	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.0450	0.3567	0.0161
9	3	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	1'14.0830	0.3947	0.0380
10	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.1035	0.4152	0.0205
11	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.1398	0.4515	0.0363
12	9	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.1607	0.4724	0.0209
13	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	1'14.2071	0.5188	0.0464
14	34	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.2210	0.5327	0.0139
15	99	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.2806	0.5923	0.0596
16	56	Jake Kostecki	Ford Mustang GT	1'14.2866	0.5983	0.0060
17	55	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	1'14.4077	0.7194	0.1211
18	5	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	1'14.5128	0.8245	0.1051
19	10	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	1'14.6078	0.9195	0.0950
20	96	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.6450	0.9567	0.0372
21	2	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.7036	1.0153	0.0586
22	22	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.7608	1.0725	0.0572
23	31	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.7881	1.0998	0.0273
24	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.8154	1.1271	0.0273
25	14	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1'14.9831	1.2948	0.1677
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