Ipswich Supercars: Jacobson tops co-driver practice

The Nissan driver was best of the non-regular drivers in the dedicated 30-minute session, designed to give co-drivers laps ahead of the enduros later in the year.

It was Steven Richards who set the pace early, his 1m10.005s putting the #888 Holden on top for the first half of the session.

Nissan's Dean Fiore then put in a two-lap stint to first jump into third, and then to the top with a 1m09.809s right on the 15-minute mark.

But he was ultimately pipped by teammate Jacobson, who switched to some near-new rubber with four minutes to go to bang out a 1m09.625s.

"It's good," he said. "I feel like the team is treating me quite well.

"The thing people don't know back home is what sort of tyres people are on. Obviously I've been given a set of tyres to do the job that are not too bad. They're not greens, but they're not bad. So I'm just thankful they gave me a set of tires that I can work with. So far, so good."

Fiore and Richards ended up second and third fastest respectively with those early laps, while Tony D'Alberto had the unique distinction of being both fourth and sixth fastest in the session. The quickest of his two times came in the #12 DJR Team Penske Ford, before he jumped in the #17 Penske Ford – as a stand-in for the absent Alex Premat – to go half a tenth slower.

"They've all got their little differences," said D'Alberto, who will partner Fabian Coulthard at the long-distance races.

"Probably the biggest thing I noticed was some of the differences Fabs and Scott [McLaughlin] like with their ergonomics within the car. It took me a little bit to get used to that."

Steve Owen split the two D'Alberto times in the #56 Prodrive Ford, with Paul Dumbrell (#88 Holden), Jono Webb (#19 Holden), Macauley Jones (#8 Holden) and Luke Youlden (#9 Holden) rounding out the Top 10.

Supercars legend Russell Ingall, who made a surprise comeback as a stand-in for Earl Bamber in the #97 Holden, was 14th fastest.