Practice Complete on the Gold Coast
October 20, 2017
GOLD COAST 600 – FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20 – PRACTICE
Fabian Coulthard & Tony D'Alberto - No. 12 Shell V-Power Racing Ford
Practice 1 – 11th (Fastest Lap: 1m11.7354s - Fabian)
Practice 2 – 3rd (Fastest Lap: 1m11.4371s - Tony)
Practice 3 – 6th (Fastest Lap: 1m10.5337s - Fabian)
Scott McLaughlin & Alex Premat - No. 17 Shell V-Power Racing Ford
Practice 1 – 5th (Fastest Lap: 1m11.3937s - Scott)
Practice 2 – 10th (Fastest Lap: 1m11.6964s - Alex)
Practice 3 – 4th (Fastest Lap: 1m10.3536s - Scott)
Fabian Coulthard & Tony D'Alberto - No. 12 Shell V-Power Racing Ford
Recap: Car 12 rolled out of the truck in good order today, with both Fabian and Tony reasonably comfortable around the streets of Surfers Paradise. The first session was spent on systems checks and running old tyres to dial in a race car. Focus switched as Tony took the wheel for Practice 2, to finish third among the co-drivers, before Fabian jumped in for the final practice session of the weekend. He fell fowl of the kerb sensors on the chicanes, losing a couple of his faster lap times as a result. The next on track session will be qualifying for Saturday's 300km race, tomorrow morning at 11:20am.
Coulthard Quote: "I'm not unhappy. I think it's hard to go around here and know what's a kerb strike and what's not. We explored the limits today, but when you do that you don't get a lap time to show for it. It's probably the most comfortable I've ever been in a Supercar around Surfers, so the signs are good."
D’Alberto Quote: "I was pretty happy with my session, the car seemed to be up the front for most of it. It's a very different set-up here on the Gold Coast compared to Bathurst, but I was quite comfortable with it and I'm looking forward to the races."
Scott McLaughlin & Alex Premat - No. 17 Shell V-Power Racing Ford
Recap: The car 17 crew worked together today to assist Scott and Alex to get more comfortable across the day. McLaughlin was in the top five in opening practice, before Alex had a stint in Practice 2. He lost a few fast lap times thanks to kerb strikes, however the team knew the chassis tuning was heading in the right direction. In the final session McLaughlin was in the top few cars across the whole session, and ended the day fourth, two-hundreths of a second outside the top three.
McLaughlin Quote: "The car is not too bad, I'd like it to be a little bit better. There's some in me, and some in the car to be where the others are, but tomorrow is going to be completely different with the weather coming in. Today is probably more about Sunday to be honest, and we're about there."
Premat Quote: "It's nice to be back on the Gold Coast, you have to give so much commitment around this track, especially through the chicanes. It's been a pretty good day, we've tuned the car and improved it across the sessions. Tomorrow we don't know what's coming weather wise, but that will make it very interesting. We need to make no mistakes and score as many points as we can for the Championship."