Nissans show form in opening Ipswich practice

Michael Caruso set the pace in a promising opening practice session for Nissan Motorsport at the Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint.

The Hidden Valley race winner sat atop the order for the bulk of the 60 minutes, becoming the first driver into the 1:10s bracket just prior to halfway.

Todd Kelly then usurped his team-mate with 17 minutes remaining, before Caruso moved back to the top just under two minutes from the flag.

“It’s not a bad way to start but obviously it’s a long way away from when it counts,” said Caruso, whose car is running in GT Academy colours this weekend.

THE FINAL RACE OF THE 2023 REPCO SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP ON ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST STREET CIRCUITS.
GO ALL IN AT THE VAILO ADELAIDE 500, CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS

“We’ll just go over what we’ve done and hopefully we get it right.”

The timesheet was turned on its head in the final minutes as many elected to run a second set of tyres.

Scott Pye shot to second for DJR Team Penske, falling just 0.06s short of Caruso as he bumped Kelly to third.

Brad Jones Racing’s Jason Bright and Tim Slade moved to fourth and fifth respectively ahead of Mark Winterbottom, Chris Pither, Rick Kelly and Chaz Mostert.

Andre Heimgartner was second with 10 minutes on the clock before being demoted to an eventual 11th.

James Courtney sat in the top five for the majority of the hour before falling to 16th, one place ahead of team-mate Garth Tander.

Jamie Whincup had a quiet run to 18th as his crew worked on race set-ups, while team-mate Craig Lowndes finished 22nd after a session that included a high-speed off at Turn 1.

Craig Baird ended up last ahead of his first solo event start in a decade, 1.3s from the pace aboard Erebus’ Hungry Jack’s Holden.

Team 18’s Kurt Kostecki was one place higher in 25th after sharing the driving with experienced co-driver Karl Reindler.

A second 60 minute session will complete the day’s Supercars action.

Result: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint Practice 1

1	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1:10.3330*S
2	DJR Team Penske	Scott Pye	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:10.3940 S	00.0610
3	carsales Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:10.4439 S	00.1109
4	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.4677 S	00.1347
5	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.4698 S	00.1368
6	Red Bull Racing Australia	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.4713 S	00.1383
7	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:10.4721 S	00.1391
8	Super Black Racing	Chris Pither	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:10.5217 S	00.1887
9	Sengled Motorsport	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:10.5982 S	00.2652
10	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:10.6174 S	00.2844
11	LD Motorsport	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.6351 S	00.3021
12	DJR Team Penske	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:10.6481 S	00.3151
13	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:10.6737 S	00.3407
14	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60	1:10.6948 S	00.3618
15	LD Motorsport	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.7723 S	00.4393
16	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.7741 S	00.4411
17	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.8221 S	00.4891
18	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.9453 S	00.6123
19	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.9754 S	00.6424
20	GB Galvanizing Racing	Dale Wood	Nissan Altima	1:10.9762 S	00.6432
21	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Moffat	Volvo S60	1:11.0780 S	00.7450
22	TeamVortex	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.0890 S	00.7560
23	Erebus Motorsport Penrite	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.2202 S	00.8872
24	Team Cooldrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.2921 S	00.9591
25	Preston Hire Racing	K.Kostecki/K.Reindler	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.5277 S	01.1947
26	Erebus Motorsport Hungry Jacks	Craig Baird	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.6772 S	01.3442