ADELAIDE 500: THURSDAY PRACTICE REPORT

Penrite Racing was left to overcome some early hurdles in the opening day of practice for the VALO Adelaide 500, today.

 

As Supercars roared back onto the famous Adelaide street circuit, David Reynolds and Lee Holdsworth familiarised themselves with the freshly resurfaced layout while getting up to speed in the 30 minute session.

 

Holdsworth’s final event as a full-time driver hit an early roadblock when smoke filled the team garage midway through the session.

 

The crew surrounded the engine bay of car #10 to get to the bottom of the issue – an oil leak the diagnoses and a quick fix saw Holdsworth back on track with 11 minutes remaining.

 

Swiftly making up for lost time Holdsworth immediately jagged a fast lap to put himself P4, while Reynolds chipped away at his car set up.

 

A red flag brought the session to an end when Macauley Jones hit the fence at the notorious Turn 8, robbing most of the field of the chance to improve their times. Holdsworth finishing up P9 and Reynolds P15.

DRIVER COMMENTS

Car #10 Driver Lee Holdsworth, said: “It’s not the way I would have liked to have started the weekend. The smoke just filled up the whole cabin.

“The smoke just filled up the whole cabin. Straight away I could tell it was oil smoke, the team wasn’t quite sure why it was happening but they got me back out fairly quickly. We’ll have a deeper look tonight and make sure it’s fixed properly.

“Some of the micro sectors on my fast lap were really good, tomorrow is an important day to get into a good position for the races.”

Car #26 Driver David Reynolds, said: “It was a funny kinda day, we waited around for this 30 minute session and I think we needed more track time to get a proper read on the car.

“I didn’t get to try a qualifying simulation lap so not sure where our pace is just yet. It’s nice to be back here in Adelaide, it’s a cool circuit and a great event.”

RESULTS

Practice 1

Holdsworth: P9

Reynolds: P15

Cars are on track for Practice 2 and Qualifying on Friday ahead of two 250km races this weekend.