Young guns shine in Ipswich co-driver practice

Dunlop Series stars Jack Le Brocq and James Golding showed the way in the Supercars co-driver practice session at Queensland Raceway.

A 30 minute run for the additional drivers kicked off the day’s action at Ipswich, preceding two 60 minute runs for the regulars.

Steering Cameron Waters’ Prodrive Ford, Le Brocq’s 1:11.04s best was set with just under three minutes remaining.

Preparing for his second Pirtek Enduro Cup campaign after a stint with Erebus Motorsport last year, the 24-year-old is riding a wave of confidence following five straight wins in the Dunlop Series.

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“It’s a little bit different with the twin spring in this car (which is banned in the Dunlop Series) but I feel I’m adapting really well,” said Le Brocq.

“These guys (Prodrive) have been awesome helping me understand what I need to do to drive these cars fast.

“There’s still a lot more to come because I’m still getting my head around it.”

James Golding slotted James Moffat’s Volvo into second at the chequered flag, falling 0.2s short of his Dunlop Series rival.

Team-mate David Wall also performed strongly to be sixth in Scott McLaughlin’s car as Garry Rogers Motorsport continues to wait on confirming its final enduro pairings.

“It’s good to be back out in the Volvo again and so much fun on the soft tyre,” smiled Golding, who is also part of GRM’s pit crew.

“There’s so much more grip, you can really fire it into the corners which requires a bit more confidence.”

Scott Pye’s co-driver Tony D’Alberto led much of the session for DJR Team Penske before being bumped to an eventual third.

“We expect the cars to be good here and for the tyre quality I was pretty happy with that,” he said.

“The track is a bit greasy at the moment because the temperature is so high.”

Steven Richards put Craig Lowndes’ Holden fourth while the other two Triple Eight cars sat on the sidelines with Alex Premat and Paul Dumbrell both busy overseas.

Macauley Jones was fifth ahead of Wall and Dean Fiore, who completed a single lap in Dale Wood’s Nissan before jumping aboard the car he’ll share with Michael Caruso.

Garry Jacobson ended up eighth as he substituted for Steve Owen who, like Wood’s co-driver David Russell, is on the way to Spa for next weekend’s 24 Hours.

Lucas Dumbrell fielded Cameron McConville and Alex Rullo in the session, with the former a likely starter alongside Nick Percat for the Sandown 500.

Teenager Rullo ended the session 22nd after escaping a high-speed off at Turn 1.

Result: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint Co-driver practice  

1	Monster Energy Racing	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:11.0412*S
2	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Golding	Volvo S60	1:11.2507 S	00.2095
3	DJR Team Penske	Tony D’Alberto	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:11.2539 S	00.2127
4	TeamVortex	Steven Richards	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.3630 S	00.3218
5	Team Cooldrive	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.3932 S	00.3520
6	Wilson Security Racing GRM	David Wall	Volvo S60	1:11.5339 H	00.4927
7	Nissan Motorsport	Dean Fiore	Nissan Altima	1:11.6277 S	00.5865
8	Supercheap Auto Racing	Garry Jacobson	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:11.6426 S	00.6014
9	LD Motorsport	Cameron McConville	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.6931 S	00.6519
10	Team BOC	Andrew Jones	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.7774 S	00.7362
11	Holden Racing Team	Jack Perkins	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.8178 S	00.7766
12	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Dean Canto	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:11.8180 S	00.7768
13	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Jonathon Webb	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.8908 S	00.8496
14	DJR Team Penske	Luke Youlden	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:11.8990 S	00.8578
15	Freightliner Racing	Ashley Walsh	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.9163 S	00.8751
16	Erebus Motorsport Penrite	Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.9336 S	00.8924
17	carsales Racing	Matthew Campbell	Nissan Altima	1:11.9886 S	00.9474
18	Preston Hire Racing	Karl Reindler	Holden Commodore VF	1:12.1174 S	01.0762
19	Holden Racing Team	Warren Luff	Holden Commodore VF	1:12.1680 S	01.1268
20	Erebus Motorsport Hungry Jacks	Shae Davies	Holden Commodore VF	1:12.1731 S	01.1319
21	Sengled Motorsport	Russell Ingall	Nissan Altima	1:12.2252 S	01.1840
22	LD Motorsport	Alex Rullo	Holden Commodore VF	1:12.6334 S	01.5922
23	GB Galvanizing Racing	Dean Fiore	Nissan Altima