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SETON TOPS CLOSE PRACTICE TIMES AT SANDOWN
FORMER SANDOWN 500 winners have set the pace in a competitive day of practice ahead of Round two of the 2016 Touring Car Masters Series at the suburban Melbourne circuit.
Glenn Seton topped the times today his 1m15.3701s lap banked in the third and final practice of the day fast enough to edge out John Bowe by just 0.3 seconds.
Greg Ritter ended the day third in the ProMaster class-leading Chevrolet Monza making it three different brands inside the top three.
iSeek Racing Holden Torana driver Jason Gomersall was fastest of all in practice one and finished fourth overall today within one second of Seton’s fastest time of the day.
Practice was held in warm and dry conditions though blustery winds ensured conditions were challenging for competitors later in the day.
Today’s fastest lap was just 0.1 seconds slower than John Bowe’s existing qualifying record and well under the existing race lap record – the competitive nature of this year’s series already seeing record times set at the season-opening Clipsal 500 in March.
Steven Johnson and Jim Richards were fifth and sixth respectively both exactly one second slower than Seton.
Eddie Abelnica Mark King Andrew Fisher and Tony Karanfilovski completed a competitive top-10 order today.
Outside of the top-10 Wayne Mercer was a strong 11th in his Lyndways Builders Falcon XY GT while Sandown’s long straights clearly suit the Greg Garwood Ford Capri Perana – the Tasmanian driver 12th outright.
Local hero Rusty French finished the day 13th ahead of Paul Freestone Cameron Tilley Clipsal 500 Trophy Race winner Adam Garwood and Leo Tobin.
Allan Boughen’s Ford Mercury Comet – on his TCM debut – and Graham Stewart completed the field.
Qualifying and the first of three races will be held at Sandown tomorrow ahead of two further races on Sunday alongside the bumper Shannons Nationals program.
Sunday’s races will be streamed live via NationalsTV with the feed to be accessible via Touringcarmasters.com.au from Sunday morning.
PRACTICE RESULTS (Combined) – ROUND 2 SANDOWN
Pos Car Competitor/Team Driver Vehicle Cap CL Fastest...Lap Gap1 30 Thunder Road Racing Team Glenn Seton (QLD) Ford Mustang Coupe 5000 P3 1:15.3701* 2 18 Wilson Security / PAYCE John Bowe (VIC) Holden Torana S/LR 5 5047 P2 1:15.7280 0:00.35793 10 Sunliner RV Greg Ritter (VIC) Chevrolet Monza 5800 P3 1:16.0529 0:00.68284 35 iseek Racing Jason Gomersall (QLD) Holden Torana S/LR 5 5000 P1 1:16.0949 0:00.72485 17 Synergy Race Engines Steve Johnson (QLD) Ford Falcon XY GT 5800 P3 1:16.3797 0:01.00966 2 Shannons Insurance Jim Richards (VIC) Ford Falcon Sprint 5000 P1 1:16.4386 0:01.06857 48 Melbournes Cheapest Cars Eddie Abelnica (VIC) Ford Falcon XB Coupe 5800 P1 1:16.7258 0:01.35578 85 Whiteline Racing/King Springs Mark King (QLD) Chevrolet Camaro RS 5800 P2 1:17.0888 0:01.71879 9 Jesus Racing Andrew Fisher (NSW) Ford Falcon XY GT 5800 P3 1:17.2076 0:01.837510 88 TIFS Warehousing & Distributio Tony Karanfilovski (NSW) Ford Mustang Fastbac 5800 P3 1:17.5380 0:02.167911 74 Lyndways Builders Wayne Mercer (VIC) Ford Falcon XY GT 5800 P1 1:17.9721 0:02.602012 21 Giraffe Civil Contracting Greg Garwood (TAS) Ford Capri Perana 5000 P3 1:18.2693 0:02.899213 4 Skye Sands Rusty French (VIC) Ford Mustang Fastbac 5800 P3 1:18.3625 0:02.992414 25 Freestones Transport Paul Freestone (VIC) Chevrolet Camaro SS 5800 P1 1:18.5012 0:03.131115 60 Glennan Transport Cameron Tilley (NSW) Valiant Pacer 4390 P2 1:18.9014 0:03.531316 12 Giraffe Civil Contracting Adam Garwood (TAS) Holden Torana S/LR 5 5047 P3 1:18.9257 0:03.555617 46 THD Motorsport Leo Tobin (VIC) Ford Boss Mustang 5000 P2 1:21.0980 0:05.727918 97 John's Furniture Removals Allen Boughen (QLD) Mercury Comet 4736 P3 1:23.8372 0:08.467119 22 Aussie Muscle Car Run Graham Stewart (SA) Holden Monaro GTS Co 5800 P3 1:27.0623 0:11.6922
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