Paul Stokell leads the way after practice today but has the young guns sit right on his tail as the Hertz MINI Challenge – delivered by Pizza Capers fires up for tomorrow morning’s qualifying session at this week’s Clipsal 500.
The veteran driver showed the form, which lead him to a series victory last season, to top today’s time-sheets, but with a 23, 25 and 16-year-old nipping at his heals - within eight tenths of a second, the scene is set for a nail-biting race 1.
"It’s always close between Chris [Alajajian] and myself and Dale [Wood] has stepped up the pace so it will make for good racing over the weekend. The car felt good today and with a fresh set of rubber tomorrow I can push a lot harder out there." Said Stokell.
Just behind Stokell was 2009 rival Alajajian lurking a mere 0.1 seconds off the DecoRug driver, while a further tenth back was Wood who showed tremendous form is first time out in the John Cooper Works R56 MINI Challenge car. Performing some technical tweaks after the opening practice session proved a master stroke for Wood who improved nearly five seconds from the morning session.
"We changed a few little things and got the wheel alignment sorted and had a really good session this afternoon. I had a lot more confidence and it’s good to be back on track now. There are a few little tweaks we can make in the morning which will get more out of the car for sure. Pole and a win is the aim tomorrow, nothing less!" Explained an enthusiastic Wood.
Another first-timer in the MINI Challenge car this morning was V8 racing protégée Scott McLaughlin who, at just 16-years-old, showed superb form to end the day of practice within a second of Stokell. Admitting he still has much time to gain on-track the youngster will be one to watch in qualifying tomorrow.
"I really picked up the pace on the first section this afternoon but I’m still losing time on the last section so I just need a bit more guts and push harder to make up that time. It’s my first time ever in the MINI on a racetrack so I know I have more in me and I’m looking forward to driving under racing conditions tomorrow." Said McLaughlin.
UberStar driver Robbie Maddison had a great morning finishing as the fourth fastest driver for the session, so much so he elected not to drive in the Practice 2 session and save himself for Quailfying tomorrow.
Clear blue skies and temperatures in the high twenties treated drivers to some fun in the sun and this was evident with an impressive turn of speed across the grid for the second session this afternoon.
Tomorrow sees the first qualifying session (8.15am) for the 2010 Hertz MINI Challenge – delivered by Pizza Capers followed by Race 1 (3.00pm) which takes place over 8 action-packed laps of the 14-turn street circuit.
Practice times:
Paul Stokell 1m36.922s
Chris Alajajian 1m37.026s
Dale Wood 1m37.135s
Scott McLaughlin 1m37.683s
Peter McNiven 1m38.127s
Sean Carter 1m38.172s
Gavin Yorrt 1m38.731s
Robbie Maddison 1m38.510s
Scott Manson 1m39.510s
Chris Wootton 1m41.503s
Brendan Cook 1m42.581s
