S5000 Series
It was a historic day for Australian motor sport with fans getting their first glimpse of the brand new S5000 series in a day clearly won by Tim Macrow.
The MTEC Motorsport driver was too fast for any of the other 12 drivers, securing the two fastest times for the day and breaking into the 1:06 time for both practice sessions.
John Martin and James Golding each came away with a third and fourth respectively, while international star Rubens Barrichello improved dramatically across the two sessions to go from sixth in practice one to second in practice two.
The series will back in the spotlight tomorrow, when the cars will race in anger for the very first time. Qualifying begins at 11.15am, before holding the qualifying race tomorrow afternoon at 2:20pm.
carsales TCR Australia Series
Like the S5000 Series, the day belonged to one individual, with Nestor Girolami posting the fastest time in both practice sessions.
The Argentine showed why he is considered one of the best TCR drivers in the world, ending practice one almost a second ahead of series leader Will Brown, before extending the gap to one and half seconds over Liam McAdam later in the day.
Brown was still competitive in the second session, coming in at fourth behind John Martin, who had enjoyed a successful day today ahead the official business starting tomorrow.
The carsales TCR Australia Series will have qualifying tomorrow morning at 10:15am before the first race of the weekend at 1:10pm AEST.
CAMS Australian Endurance Championship
There was just one practice session today for the CAMS Australian Endurance Championship and it was Fraser Ross and Ryan Simpson who ended the session with practice bragging rights.
The duo completed 21 laps and ended up almost one second faster than Peter Hackett in second, while current championship leaders Geoff Emery and Garth Tander rounded out the top three.
The CAMS Australian Endurance Championship will hold two qualifying sessions tomorrow before the first of three weekend races at 3:30pm AEST.
The Kuhmo Tyres Super3 Series
A dramatic ending to a good day in the Kumho Tyres Super3 Series as current series leader Broc Feeney secured pole position and a valuable three points ahead of the first race tomorrow.
Interestingly, Feeney finished both practice sessions in first, but qualified in second behind Josh Fife, only for Fife to be stripped of time after crashing straight after posting his record time, ultimately handing Feeney pole and sending the Holden Commodore pilot to fifth.
Starting on the front row next to Feeney tomorrow will be Hamish Ribarits, while Zachary Best sits in third place next to title contender Jayden Ojeda, with all three drivers also benefiting from Fife’s demotion.
The category will be on track tomorrow twice with race one at 12:05pm and race two at 4:35pm local time.
The Australian Production Car Series
The first official race of the weekend had an anti climactic start with one car crashing out on the formation lap. Once the action eventually started, Iain Sherrin led the field as he had done all day.
However Sherrin lost his lead to Coleby Cowham while in the pits during the race’s middle stages and he wasn’t able to recover, getting only as high as third behind Cowham and eventual race winner Richard Bates.
It was a fantastic effort from Bates who dropped to as a low as fifth throughout the race, but in those thrilling middle laps, the Mitsubishi EVO driver managed to work his way up and claim the win.
The Australian Production Cars Series continues its round tomorrow with the first and last races of the day, their first being 9:10am AEST.
Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia
It was a day that almost belonged to Max Vidau as the South Australian posted the fastest time in practice before qualifying in second behind series leader Harri Jones.
Vidau had been leading qualifying for much of the session, only for Jones to pick up his fastest time on the penultimate lap and seal pole by just one tenth of a second.
Ryan Suhle finished in the top three less than one hundredth of a second ahead of Aaron Love in what was a thrilling finishing the to first day of action at the Shannons Nationals.
The category will have two races tomorrow with the first being at 10:45am and the second being at 3:05pm AEST.