The 2019 Supercars season finally kicked off in Adelaide for practice session which saw an unexpected final results with lots of drama.
Anton De Pasquale charged the field with Penrite Racing in 30-minute session, setting a lap of 1:20.895 at the end of session, with lots of other drivers including Fabian Coulthard and reigning champion Scott McLaughlin taking the top spot, before stopping due to a an issue with an oil pressure and then power steering issue, causing red flags.
“It’s good to start the year off on a high; think it’s the first time I’ve topped a session too," said De Pasquale in interview.
“It’s for the boys and girls, heaps of confidence going into the rest of the season.
“Obviously it’s only early days so we don’t know what everybody else is doing, tyres, all that stuff. But it’s only first session of the year, good to start off on a high.”
The DJR Penske driver finished 12th overall, setting a 1:21.738, being the only Ford driver to finish outside top 10.
“Our car felt really good, we were on a race run there, just having a bit of a fun time, Shell V-Power car felt good,” McLaughlin said after the session ended for him.
“But we just had a little bit of a problem then, engine wise.
“It was was right up there too. Overall, I’m stoked, just need to work on it overnight.”
Lee Holdsworth was second for Tickford Racing's Bottle-O car, pipping Fabian Coulthard by 1:21.196.
“I felt relieved to just get this drive in the first place,” said Holdsworth.
“We all came out of the test day pretty unhappy with the balance in the Mustang for the first day and we still ended up competitive.
“Then to come here and straight out the gate to be on the pace is really promising. I’m just enjoying myself.”
Behind Coulthard was the sister Penrite Racing car of David Reynolds, who almost had his rear into the newly placed tyre barriers at Turn 7 but finished fourth with 1:21.335 behind the wheel of Commodore ZB.
Next up was debutant for Irwin Racing, Mark Winterbottom who took the fifth spot ahead of Cameron Waters.
Last year's championship runner-up Shane Van Gisbergen finished 7th, after a smooth exit through the high-speed escape road at Wakefield Street
Chaz Mostert, Will Davison and Scott Pye completed Top 10, despite Pye having the lead in opening moments of the session.
Other than McLaughlin's incident, two other red-flags were caused during the session. The first one was called for debris on track before any driver made it out on track.
The second one was called for the crash of James Golding in Garry Roger Motorsports car, as the Aussie hit the tyre wall at Turn 7.
Another issue was for the Walkinshaw Andretti United car as James Courtney had electrical problems, before making it out on track in final few moments and coming home 17th.
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