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Darwin Supercars: Percat tops first practice

Nick Percat topped the opening practice session for the Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley.

Nick Percat, Brad Jones Racing

Nick Percat, Brad Jones Racing

Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics

Tyres were there focus of the 40-minute session as teams and drivers got their first taste of the brand new super soft control tyre.

With question marks over the level of degradation, long runs were a focus for much of the field throughout the session.

That meant Mark Winterbottom's early 1m06.334s, set on just his second lap, was the benchmark until the qualifying sims started with a few minutes to go.

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At that point the times started to tumble, Anton De Pasquale first to knock Winterbottom off top spot with a 1m06.290s.

Cam Waters and Scott Pye then went close, slotting into what was second and third respectively, before Percat knocked every down a spot with a 1m06.169s at the flag.

"Yeah it felt good," said Percat. "We had a very well-structured programme and we just stuck to it. We went through the changes we wanted and the end result was a pretty fast lap time.

"We made a change for our last run with new tyres and it actually really hooked up. Early days, but it was nice to have a drive on the super softs."

Winterbottom ended up fifth with that early time, followed by Chaz Mostert, David Reynolds and James Courtney.

Todd Hazelwood and Jack Le Brocq rounded out the Top 10, while series leader Shane van Gisbergen was just 11th after changing a splitter early and running off track several times during the session.

Cla # Driver Car Time Gap Interval
1 8 Australia Nick Percat
Holden Commodore ZB 1'06.169
2 11 Australia Anton De Pasquale
Ford Mustang GT 1'06.290 0.120 0.120
3 6 Australia Cameron Waters
Ford Mustang GT 1'06.305 0.136 0.015
4 20 Australia Scott Pye
Holden Commodore ZB 1'06.329 0.159 0.023
5 18 Australia Mark Winterbottom
Holden Commodore ZB 1'06.334 0.165 0.005
6 25 Australia Chaz Mostert
Holden Commodore ZB 1'06.360 0.190 0.025
7 26 Australia David Reynolds
Ford Mustang GT 1'06.437 0.268 0.077
8 44 Australia James Courtney
Ford Mustang GT 1'06.561 0.391 0.123
9 14 Australia Todd Hazelwood
Holden Commodore ZB 1'06.575 0.405 0.014
10 5 Australia Jack Le Brocq
Ford Mustang GT 1'06.616 0.446 0.040
11 97 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen
Holden Commodore ZB 1'06.634 0.465 0.018
12 9 Australia Will Brown
Holden Commodore ZB 1'06.669 0.500 0.035
13 17 Australia Will Davison
Ford Mustang GT 1'06.724 0.554 0.054
14 88 Australia Jamie Whincup
Holden Commodore ZB 1'06.749 0.580 0.025
15 99 Brodie Kostecki
Holden Commodore ZB 1'06.754 0.585 0.005
16 7 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner
Ford Mustang GT 1'06.799 0.629 0.044
17 96 Australia Macauley Jones
Holden Commodore ZB 1'06.821 0.651 0.022
18 19 New Zealand Fabian Coulthard
Holden Commodore ZB 1'06.891 0.721 0.069
19 27 Australia Kurt Kostecki
Holden Commodore ZB 1'07.003 0.833 0.112
20 34 Australia Jake Kostecki
Holden Commodore ZB 1'07.102 0.932 0.099
21 4 Australia Jack Smith
Holden Commodore ZB 1'07.153 0.984 0.051
22 35 Australia Zane Goddard
Holden Commodore ZB 1'07.154 0.985 0.000
23 2 Australia Bryce Fullwood
Holden Commodore ZB 1'07.330 1.161 0.176
24 55 Australia Thomas Randle
Ford Mustang GT 1'07.461 1.292 0.131
25 3 Australia Tim Slade
Ford Mustang GT 1'07.511 1.341 0.049
26 22 Australia Garry Jacobson
Holden Commodore ZB 1'07.643 1.474 0.132

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