Thompson fastest in Townsville Fujitsu practice

Andrew Thompson has led the way on the opening day of practice for Round 3 of the 2011 Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series in Townsville.

The Monster Energy Triple Eight Commodore driver topped both of the 40 minute sessions, with his best time of 1:13.49s set with just four minutes to go in Practice 2.

Walkinshaw Racing’s Coates Hire entry of Nick Percat was 0.36s adrift in second place, with the former Australian Formula Ford Champion narrowly avoiding disaster during a big slide through the fast Turn 10 sweeper in the afternoon.

Cameron McConville (Eggleston Motorsport) and Daniel Jilesen (R&J Batteries GMR) joined Percat in setting late flyers to be third and fourth respectively, edging out the ABC Towing Commodore of Marcus Zukanovic.

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Zukanovic had been third fastest in the morning session despite differential and brake problems, and spent much of the afternoon running second on the leaderboard behind the dominant Thompson.

Andrew Jones (Flexi Hire BJR), Paul Morris (The Love Machine PMM), David Russsell (Team Jayco MWR), Todd Fiore (Flexi Staff Triple F) and Geoff Emery (AC Delco GMR) rounded out the top 10.

Scott McLaughlin’s afternoon session lasted just seven minutes before the Fujitsu backed Stone Brothers Racing Falcon of Scott McLaughlin  came to a halt on the circuit with an engine problem, bringing out the red flags.

Jack Perkins (Supercheap Auto Sonic Motor Racing Services) did not turn a lap in the afternoon following a collision with Lindsay Yelland’s Eggleston Motorsport VZ in Practice 1.

Perkins and the remainder of the 28 car field will return to the track tomorrow morning at 9:35 for qualifying.

See below for the combined result for Practice 1 and 2

1	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Andrew Thompson	Holden Commodore VE	1:13.4851R
2	Coates Hire Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VE	1:13.8432	0:00.3581
3	Eggleston Motorsport	Cameron McConville	Holden Commodore VE	1:14.6573	0:01.1722
4	R&J Batteries/EarthEx/KingGee	Daniel Jilesen	Holden Commodore VE	1:14.7089	0:01.2238
5	Midway Concrete&Garden Supply	Marcus Zukanovic	Holden Commodore VE	1:14.8836	0:01.3985
6	Flexi Hire Racing	Andrew Jones	Holden Commodore VE	1:14.9028	0:01.4177
7	The Love Machine	Paul Morris	Holden Commodore VE	1:14.9404	0:01.4553
8	Team Jayco	David Russell	Ford Falcon BF	1:15.0765	0:01.5914
9	Flexi Staff	Todd Fiore	Ford Falcon BF	1:15.1305	0:01.6454
10	AC Delco/Simworx/NDD	Geoff Emery	Holden Commodore VE	1:15.1859	0:01.7008
11	Mad Croc Energy	Robert Cregan	Ford Falcon BF	1:15.1972	0:01.7121
12	Go Karts Go	Aaren Russell	Ford Falcon BF	1:15.2415	0:01.7564
13	Fastaz Motorsport	Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VZ	1:15.3881	0:01.9030
14	Go Karts Go	Drew Russell	Ford Falcon BF	1:15.5178	0:02.0327
15	Bob Jane T-Marts	Rodney Jane	Ford Falcon FG	1:15.5811	0:02.0960
16	Team Jayco	Tim Blanchard	Ford Falcon BF	1:15.6281	0:02.1430
17	Wilson Security Racing	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VE	1:15.6412	0:02.1561
18	Fujitsu	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon BF	1:15.6824	0:02.1973
19	Simpro Software/Master Elect.	Ashley Walsh	Ford Falcon BF	1:15.7309	0:02.2458
20	Simpro Software/Master Elect.	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon BF	1:15.9426	0:02.4575
21	Sportsalive.com / AFS	Tony Bates	Holden Commodore VE	1:16.0228	0:02.5377
22	Team Tom Supporters Club	Tom Tweedie	Ford Falcon BF	1:16.1506	0:02.6655
23	Tricor/EarthEx/Drill Pro Srvs	James Brock	Holden Commodore VE	1:16.8660	0:03.3809
24	City of Townsville/Bisley	Colin Sieders	Ford Falcon BF	1:17.7042	0:04.2191
25	Bob Jane T Marts/Supercheap	Jack Perkins	Ford Falcon BF	1:17.7523	0:04.2672
26	NCSS	Aaron McGill	Ford Falcon BF	1:18.3121	0:04.8270
27	Formula Tech/Interquip Racing	Brett Stewart	Holden Commodore VE	1:19.6063	0:06.1212
28	Eggleston Motorsport	Lindsay Yelland	Holden Commodore VZ	1:20.4940	0:07.0089

See below for Speedcafe.com’s Townsville V8 Race Guide