It was a wet and wild day at Bathurst, as the grid was partially set in the Virgin Australian Supercars Championship and number of support categories enjoyed their first races.
Supercars
Wet conditions meant the drivers were quite off the day’s earlier record breaking practice sessions pace, however it was still a highly entertaining qualifying session, which was topped by championship leader Scott McLaughlin.
Tickford’s Chaz Mostert finished the session in second place ahead of Shane van Gisbergen after enjoying an early battle with McLaughlin, where Mostert and McLaughlin traded fastest times on multiple occasions.
Dual Bathurst 1000 winner Will Davison was impressive during the session, slotting into fourth place on his final lap of the race, while Tim Slade just edged out Nick Percat for a top five position.
Jamie Whincup, Cameron Waters, Mark Winterbottom and Anton de Pasquale rounded out the top ten.
Supercars will have two more practice sessions tomorrow before the top 10 shootout wraps up the day at 5pm AEDT.
Dunlop Super2 Series
Series leader Bryce Fullwood has set himself up very nicely in a rain hit qualifying session, grabbing pole ahead of teammate Tyler Everingham by half a second. Ashley Walsh rounded out the top three after finishing just one hundredth of a second faster than Will Brown.
The battle for fifth was just as close as David Russell edged out Thomas Randle by just two hundredths of a second, and two tenths than Brenton Grove.
The series will have a warm up session early tomorrow morning before heading onto track for the 41-lap race at 3pm.
Paynter Dixon Touring Car Masters
The first cab of the rank for the jam packed weekend of racing was with the Touring Car Masters hosting two races on Friday.
The points were shared across both races with Steve Johnson taking out the first race over New Zealander Angus Fogg, before Fogg struck back and won the second race.
The category enjoys one more time on track for the weekend, with the final race to take place at 10:20am tomorrow before Sunday’s Trans-Tasman Challenge.
Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia
Jordan Love continued his late charge for the title after winning the series’ first race for the weekend, and closing in on Dale Wood’s lead after the series leader finished eight seconds behind in fifth.
Not much separated Love and the two drivers behind him with David Wall crossing the line just two tenths of a second ahead of Cooper Murray.
Carrera Cup returns tomorrow with the second race of three for the weekend at 1:55pm AEST.
Toyota 86 Racing Series
Aaron Borg was the fastest of the 34 competing Toyota drivers, posting an impressive time of 2:37.86 during qualifying and earning pole position for tomorrow’s first race of the weekend.
All of the exciting action was happening just behind him though, as less than one tenth of a second separated second to fourth with Luke van Herwaarde leading John Lafolla and Luke King for the front row position.
The series starts kicks off tomorrow’s action with the first of two races to begin at 8:05am, before the second at 12:55pm.
ECB SuperUtes Series
It was a frantic start to the first ECB SuperUtes Series race for the weekend as Cameron Crick comfortably sealed top spot, three seconds ahead of Ben Walsh.
Nathan Pretty earned a well-deserved third place after being involved in a five-car incident at the start of the race. The Holden Colorado driver recovered to pass Ryal Harris in the later stages and earn a top three finish.
The series is back with two races tomorrow, the first being 8:35am before the final race of the weekend at 1:25pm.
*All times are AEDT