TICKFORD Racing’s Cameron Waters topped opening practice for the 2021 Repco Bathurst 1000 with an incredible lap time.
No, his 2:05.0233s best wasn’t a track record.
But it was identical, to the fourth decimal place, to the time with which he led Practice 1 for the 2020 Great Race.
“That’s ridiculous,” exclaimed commentator Neil Crompton when Waters completed the lap. “Deadset I’ve never seen that, it’s unbelievable.”
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“It was pretty crazy,” Waters later said. “That doesn’t happen very often, totally different conditions and everything. So far, so good.”
Waters set the pace for the bulk of the weekend last year, including setting pole position, only to trail home Shane van Gisbergen on Sunday.
The Monster Mustang that Waters shares with James Moffat ended Practice 1 for this year’s event 0.0842s clear of Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden driver Chaz Mostert.
Waters’ co-driver of 2020 and now Dick Johnson Racing full-timer Will Davison ended the 60 minutes in third ahead of James Courtney, Mark Winterbottom and Tim Slade.
Van Gisbergen, Scott Pye, Nick Percat and Brodie Kostecki completed the top 10.
Most cars were driven solely by their primary drivers in the session, as this afternoon’s second outing is for co-drivers only.
There was just one red flag stoppage, called just five minutes in when Macauley Jones’ Commodore stopped on the run up the Mountain with a power steering problem.
Practice 2 is scheduled for 4:25pm local time.
Pos | Car # | Driver/s | Team | Car | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 | Cam Waters | Tickford | Ford | 2m05.0233s |
2 | 25 | Chaz Mostert | WAU | Holden | +0.0842s |
3 | 17 | Will Davison | DJR | Ford | +0.1157s |
4 | 44 | James Courtney | Tickford | Ford | +0.3452s |
5 | 18 | Mark Winterbottom | Team 18 | Holden | +0.3748s |
6 | 3 | Tim Slade | BRT | Ford | +0.3880s |
7 | 88 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight | Holden | +0.4520s |
8 | 14 | Todd Hazelwood / Dean Fiore | BJR | Holden | +0.5149s |
9 | 8 | Nick Percat | BJR | Holden | +0.5255s |
10 | 99 | Brodie Kostecki | Erebus | Holden | +0.5324s |
11 | 88 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight | Holden | +0.5601s |
12 | 9 | Will Brown | Erebus | Holden | +0.5931s |
13 | 26 | David Reynolds | KGR | Ford | +0.6665s |
14 | 2 | Bryce Fullwood | WAU | Holden | +0.7492s |
15 | 11 | Anton De Pasquale | DJR | Ford | +0.7751s |
16 | 20 | Scott Pye / James Golding | Team 18 | Holden | +0.8718s |
17 | 39 | Broc Feeney | Triple Eight | Holden | +0.8842s |
18 | 5 | Jack Le Brocq | Tickford | Ford | +1.0595s |
19 | 7 | Andre Heimgartner | KGR | Ford | +1.1231s |
20 | 22 | Garry Jacobson | Team Sydney | Holden | +1.2786s |
21 | 19 | Jonathon Webb / Fabian Coulthard | Team Sydney | Holden | +1.3483s |
22 | 4 | Jack Smith | BJR | Holden | +1.6754s |
23 | 96 | Macauley Jones | BJR | Holden | +2.5220s |
24 | 35 | Zane Goddard | MSR | Holden | +3.0309s |
25 | 34 | Jake Kostecki | MSR | Holden | +3.1949s |