Asian Motor Sports

Holden driver Will Davison clocked the fastest time in practice at the inaugural Townsville 400 V8 Supercar event on Friday.

The Holden Racing Team driver, second on the championship ladder, emerged on top after a topsy turvy final practice session, where five drivers hit top spot in the last 12 minutes of the 50-minute session.

Davison clocked a top lap of 1min 13.052secs on the new 2.87km street circuit to finish ahead of Michael Caruso and Jason Richards as Holden filled the top three places.

Caruso, winner of the last race in Darwin last month, clocked 1:13.059 while Richards had a 1:13.143.

Ford’s championship leader Jamie Whincup clocked the fourth fastest time with a 1:13.156.

Ford’s James Courtney, who dominated the day’s opening two practice sessions, finished seventh in the third session.

Qualifying is on Saturday before the first 200km race with race two on Sunday.

The drivers gave the new track the thumbs up.

“It’s good. It’s pretty much what we expected, probably a little bit bumpier than what we originally thought,” Davison said.

“But quite enjoyable, it’s certainly added that character to it. It’s quite strange because that first sector of the lap is complete street circuit and really feels like you’re driving at Adelaide or New Zealand.

“Very enjoyable, to be honest, to drive on … I think they’ve done a great engineering job with the area they had.”

Richards said the introduction of raised curbs at several bends had proven effective in solving the problem of tyre bundles which dogged this year’s Hamilton event.

The Team BOC driver was an outspoken critic of the bundles in Hamilton that were placed on a chicane and caused grief for several drivers.

“They (curbs) seem to be doing the job much better than tyres so I think we’ve found a good solution,” the New Zealander said.

“They’re big enough, ugly enough, to stop a V8 Supercar attacking them because if you tend to attack them too much you’re losing time.

“I think all the drivers are basically saying what an awesome circuit, so well done Townsville.”

Caruso, who picked up his first V8 Supercar win in Darwin last month, said the circuit would also be a winner for fans.

“I think the most impressive thing is the way they’ve set it out with all the grandstands, just something different to what we normally see,” he said.

“There’s these big sections where they’ve got grandstands and hills everywhere for people to sit.

“I think that’s probably an aspect that we need to keep looking into, to improve our viewing areas for the people that come out to the track.”