Perth driver Rhys McNally set a record breaking pace in practice for Round 4 of the East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series at the Castrol EDGE Townsville 400 today (Friday, July 10). McNally’s Stratco Holden was 2/100ths under Kim Jane’s practice record from 2 years ago, and 1/10th faster than Nathan Pretty, with David Sieders, Craig Dontas and Adam Marjoram rounding out the Top 5, all in Holden’s.
McNally won his first ARMOR ALL Pole Award earlier in the year at the Clipsal 500 and would love nothing more than to add another one to his repertoire.
“It’s great to see we have good pace, we just have to keep it up tomorrow and hopefully we’ll walk away with a Pole,” said McNally.
Former V8 Supercar driver Marcus Marshall missed both practice sessions in the Team Kleen Holden due to a clutch issue, however will be on the track for qualifying tomorrow.
“I know which way it goes (the track), I’m confident of that, as for confidence in the car I will really need my experience to just get me through, it’s definitely making things a lot harder to get through the weekend, but other than that I’m loving being here and really looking forward to the rest of the weekend,” explained Marshall.
Series leader Ryal Harris and team mate George Miedecke both struggled for pace in the Matt Stone Racing Ford’s, to be 10th and 11th respectively, both carrying success ballast and battled to get the balance right. Harris has already had a win, with stewards dismissing a charge against him as a result of an incident during the last round in Darwin. Harris continues to lead the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship by 54 points.
Gerard McLeod, Ryan Hansford, Grant Johnson and Jeremy Gray all had strong sessions, although Johnson a former dual V8 Ute series winner is suffering from a bad virus.
Reigning Champ Kris Walton had power steering failure in Practice One, however could only manage a mid-field time in the Rentco Ford in P2.
Michael Almond is doing double duties this weekend. The Copyworld driver is a front runner in Carrera Cup and making a return to the Ute series, along with Queensland driver Brendon Tucker who last raced a Ute four years ago on the Gold Coast.
Tomorrow’s early morning qualifying session (8.05 am) will again a feature a final 5 min shootout for the Top 10 grid positions and the ARMOR ALL $1,000 cash award for pole position. Race 1 will also be telecast live on the TEN Network from 1.50 pm, with qualifying and Race 1 also televised on Fox Sports.
