Bathurst 1000: Canto leads lightning fast co-driver practice

The Prodrive Racing driver backed up his session-topping effort yesterday to finish up on top of the co-driver field, doing so with a stunning 2m05.336s lap.

The times shifted down into the sixes in the early part of the session, Warren Luff and Todd Hazelwood both banking late 2m06s laps inside the first 10 minutes.

The benchmark was lowered again as the session headed towards the 20-minute mark, Canto jumping to the top for the first time with a 2m06.443s.

HSV Racing’s Jack Perkins enjoyed a brief stint at the top at the half-hour mark with a 2m06.245s, before the session briefly turned into a battle of the Prodrive co-drivers.

Canto went first, going quickest with a 2m06.182s. He was immediately replaced by Steve Owen, who banked a 2m06.102s, before Canto hit back by becoming the first co-driver into the fives with a 2m05.964s.

At the same time Richie Stanaway got involved, recovering from an earlier engine issue to pop up in second with a 2m06.085s.

With a little under 20 minutes to go Alex Premat put DJR Team Penske into the heat of the battle, moving up to second with a 2m06.055s.

Just seconds later, Ford’s monopoly on the top four was broken when Luff banged out a 2m05.484 in his HSV Commodore. Steve Owen did his best to respond straight away, improving to a 2m05.764s and then a 2m05.553 on consecutive laps.

There was another red flag with seven minutes to go thanks to Taz Douglas beaching himself at the last corner, which led to a three-minute green tyre sprint at the end of the session.

While GRM driver James Golding looked to have got the best of the one-lap shootout when he jumped to the top with a 2m05.345s, it was Canto who had the last laugh, sealing P1 with a 2m05.336s right at the flag.

“It’s always exciting when you see a five on the dash and then you hear the call over the radio P1 for the session,” said Canto.

“Co-drivers, we’re always trying to do our best out there. It’s not about being the quickest, but it’s always nice to finish on top.”

Golding wound up second by just 0.008s, while Luff – who opted to sit out the last three minutes, dropped back to third.

Triple Eight’s Paul Dumbrell made big gains on his final lap, winding up fourth with a 2m05.545s, which dropped Owen back to fifth.

Hazelwood finished up sixth quickest, ahead of Stanaway and Penske pair Tony D’Alberto and Alex Premat.

Macauley Jones rounded out the Top 10.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	5	Mark Winterbottom    Dean Canto	Ford Falcon FG-X	2'05.3368
2	33	Garth Tander    James Golding	Holden Commodore VF	2'05.3456	0.0088
3	2	Warren Luff    Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	2'05.4848	0.1480
4	88	Jamie Whincup    Paul Dumbrell	Holden Commodore VF	2'05.5450	0.2082
5	55	Steven Owen    Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	2'05.5539	0.2171
6	21	Tim Blanchard    Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore VF	2'05.8204	0.4836
7	6	Richie Stanaway    Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	2'05.8795	0.5427
8	12	Tony D'Alberto    Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	2'05.8950	0.5582
9	17	Alexandre Prémat    Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	2'06.0554	0.7186
10	8	Nick Percat    Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore VF	2'06.1096	0.7728
11	22	James Courtney    Jack Perkins	Holden Commodore VF	2'06.2457	0.9089
12	78	Simona de Silvestro    David Russell	Nissan Altima	2'06.2843	0.9475
13	888	Steven Richards    Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	2'06.4563	1.1195
14	23	Michael Caruso    Dean Fiore	Nissan Altima	2'06.4716	1.1348
15	15	Rick Kelly    David Wall	Nissan Altima	2'06.5905	1.2537
16	97	Shane van Gisbergen    Matt Campbell	Holden Commodore VF	2'06.7123	1.3755
17	20	Todd Kelly    Jack Le Brocq	Nissan Altima	2'06.7146	1.3778
18	56	Jason Bright    Garry Jacobson	Ford Falcon FG-X	2'06.7875	1.4507
19	18	Lee Holdsworth    Karl Reindler	Holden Commodore VF	2'06.8345	1.4977
20	3	Aaren Russell    Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	2'06.8726	1.5358
21	9	David Reynolds  Luke Youlden	Holden Commodore VF	2'06.9433	1.6065
22	99	Dale Wood    Chris Pither	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.2616	1.9248
23	19	Jonathon Webb    Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.3893	2.0525
24	14	Tim Slade    Ash Walsh	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.4051	2.0683
25	34	James Moffat    Richard Muscat	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.6453	2.3085
26	62	Alex Davison    Alex Rullo	Holden Commodore VF	2'07.6938	2.3570