V8 Supercars Championship, Gold Coast 600 - Round 12
October 21, 2016
Track: Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
Race: Gold Coast 600
Date: 21st October 2016
Practice Recap: The Gold Coast 600 kicked off today with three short, sharp practice sessions in the lead up to the twin 300km races on Saturday and Sunday. The Hog's Ford of Scott Pye and Tony D'Alberto was the better of the two DJR Team Penske Fords finishing the day in seventh. The SellMyCar Ford of Fabian Coulthard and Luke Youlden would finish the day in fifteenth.
The first30 minute session saw the Hog's and SellMyCar Fords finish mid-pack due mainly to a lack of quality tyres for each car.
Tony D'Alberto moved the Hog's Ford to the top of the time sheets in the co-driver only practice session with a very strong performance.
The final run in the late afternoon allowed Coulthard and Pye to bolt on a set of new Dunlop's. The No 17 Hogs' Ford was making steady progress but along with most of the field, he lost some potentially fast laps for 'kerb hopping.' Coulthard also on new tyres and was suffering the same fate as Pye, but admitted at the session end that he still needed to find some better balance on the car.
No. 12 SellMyCar Ford - Fabian Coulthard / Luke Youlden
Practice 1 P 18 Fastest Lap 1:12.45 - FC
Practice 2 P 14 Fastest Lap 1:12.89 - LY
Practice 3 P 15 Fastest Lap 1:11.32 - FC
Fabian Coulthard Quote: "We chased a set- up today. We certainly made some progress but I feel we have a way to go to really dial the car in. Our new tyre run was hampered by kerb strikes and traffic so we head into Qualifying tomorrow with some work to do to really get the most out of the SellMyCar Ford."
No. 17 Hogs Ford - Scott Pye / Tony D’Alberto
Practice 1: P 15 Fastest Lap 1:12.18 - SP
Practice 2: P 1 Fastest Lap 1:11.77 - TD
Practice 3: P 7 Fastest Lap 1:11.00 - SP
Scott Pye Quote: "I thought the Hog’s Ford was reasonably competitive across all three sessions. We didn't get a time out of the car in the first practice due to a lot of traffic and kerb hops. We were still confident the car was not far off."
"We worked as fast as possible to improvement in little areas. Tony did a very good job totop his session and we then made a bigger change for the final session which worked pretty well. I don't think we will be doing anything drastic before Qualifying tomorrow."