MASON Kelly has flashed his talent to remarkably lead the way in opening Dunlop Series practice at the VAILO Adelaide 500.
Driving a Super3 Nissan, Kelly not only was fastest in class but outpaced the entire Super2 field too in wet conditions.
The 18-year-old set the benchmark at 1:34.6501s approximately three-quarters of the way through the 40-minute session – just before it ended early after separate incidents for Callum Walker and Brad Vaughan brought out the red flags.
“It’s not as bad as I actually thought,” Kelly said of the conditions.
“I think this surface, being resurfaced a few years ago, it’s actually really quite driveable in the wet, more than I thought.
“I’m just having a heap of fun learning the track and just building up to it but it seems to be going quite well so far.”
The Kelly family has had plenty of prior success in Adelaide, Mason’s father Todd and uncle Rick having each won a race at the 2007 Clipsal 500.
“He’s a bit worried, he thinks I’m going to crash, but I’m just trying to not take any risks,” Mason said of Todd, who runs his #22 Altima.
“He’s always a bit stressed!”
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Todd added: “He’s scaring the absolute hell out of me, I can tell you that.
“I’ve been telling him to slow down the whole session because we’re P1 at a street circuit in the wet and all we need to do is just get through this one.
“He’s not really driven in the wet before so it’s nerve-racking, standing in pitlane, I can tell you. But it seems like he has really got a handle on the car. “
It was a tricky start to the decider for both Super2 title contenders, with Kai Allen (power steering) and Zak Best (vision) both encountering issues.
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