Two 25-minute practice sessions opened the First Focus Radical Cup Australia season at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit today.
Peter Paddon has topped the timing charts in both practice sessions today in the First Focus Radical SR3 XXR. His 1m31.0208s best in practice two just nudged his practice one quickest time by .008 seconds.
West Aussie young gun Cooper Cutts was nipping at Paddon’s heels, with the Terry Cutts Racing driver also setting his quickest time of 1m31.4623 in the afternoon’s running. Rounding out the top three overall was the Shared Runway / Volante Rosso entry of Peter Clare/Josh Hunt.
Ash Samadi was the quickest of the Workhorse AM drivers in both of today’s sessions, jumping four places between sessions –seventh in practice one and third in practice two – before finishing the day fourth outright ahead of Terry Knowles in fifth.
It was a strong showing for two of this weekend’s debutantes, with Chris Reindler – driving alongside Bryce Moore – and Ethan Brown in sixth and seventh.
Bradley Russell was eighth, and William Medland and Adam Naccarata rounded out the top ten.
Early morning showers and the threat of rain all day saw teams preparing for all conditions ahead of both sessions. The 17-strong field enjoyed 25 minutes of dry, uninterrupted track time to make their mark during their first outing.
However, practice two wouldn’t be quite as smooth sailing, with a short red flag period early in the running cutting into the 25-minute session.
Attention now turns to qualifying tomorrow morning at 9.20am AEST and the first of this weekend’s two races at 12.00pm AEST.
Fans can follow along with qualifying on live timing. Both races will be broadcast Live and Free on 7plus this weekend as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries Ford Mustang 60 Years Race Phillip Island.