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TORANAS TOP EARLY NEWCASTLE PRACTICE
A 20-MINUTE introduction to the streets of Newcastle has set the scene for a highly competitive final round of the 2017 Touring Car Masters series this weekend.
Friday’s sole hit-out saw a drama-free session completed without incident Holden Torana SL/R 5000 driver Ryan Hansford setting the benchmark with a 1m19.1805s lap.
He was 0.34 seconds faster than Adam Bressington’s Chevrolet Camaro the Whiteline Racing driver coming out of the blocks strong in his pursuit of a TCM title this weekend.
Bressington sits just 25 points behind series leader John Bowe and 20 behind Steve Johnson in second.
He also comfortably leads the ProAm division driver standings and while having one eye on the outright title this weekend will also be keen to seal his class championship with a trouble-free weekend.
Bowe and Johnson were third and fourth respectively split by just 0.1 seconds as has been the case for much of the season.
Returning two-time TCM champion Gavin Bullas was fifth fastest surviving a trip up the escape road at turn one to lap just 1.2 seconds slower than Hansford’s benchmark.
The rebuilt BigMate Racing Torana of Jason Gomersall was sixth while the six-cylinder Valliant Pacer of Cameron Tilley was a strong seventh.
Though physically large the lighter nimble Valliant has always performed well on street circuits with the North Sydney-based driver keen for a strong result this weekend.
Tony Karanfilovski was eighth in his Ford Mustang Bruce Williams ninth in the ACDelco Torana and Andrew Fisher – who had set the fastest time early in the session – completed the top-10.
Home-town hero Cameron Mason was 12th in the Shelby Mustang has he ran in a new engine ahead of his local campaign.
On his TCM debut Jamie Tilley finished practice one position ahead of his race-winning father Brad the pair in 14th and 15th respectively.
All 24 cars completed the session with all bar four of them completing more than 10 valuable laps.
Saturday will be a busier day for the TCM grid with practice early in the morning to be followed by qualifying just before lunch.
PRACTICE 1 RESULTS: NEWCASTLE
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Pos Car Competitor/Team Driver Vehicle Cap CL Laps Fastest...Lap Gap1 6 Multispares Racing Ryan Hansford (QLD) Holden Torana SL R 13 10 1:19.1805R 2 95 Whiteline Racing / Fabre Austr Adam Bressington (NSW) Chevrolet Camaro SS 10 6 1:19.5265 0:00.34603 18 Wilson Security / PAYCE John Bowe (VIC) Holden Torana SL R 13 7 1:20.0245 0:00.84404 17 WM Waste / Illusion Gas Log Fi Steve Johnson (QLD) Ford Mustang Fastbac 8 7 1:20.1520 0:00.97155 16 Carne Grill / Precinct Bar Gavin Bullas (VIC) Ford Mustang Fastbac 12 11 1:20.4690 0:01.28856 35 Bigmate Racing Jason Gomersall (QLD) Holden Torana A X Ha 13 11 1:20.5327 0:01.35227 60 Glennan Transport/ANGLOMOIL Lu Cameron Tilley (NSW) Valiant Pacer 13 13 1:20.6002 0:01.41978 88 TIFS - Warehousing & Distribut Tony Karanfilovski (NSW) Ford Mustang Trans A 11 10 1:20.7623 0:01.58189 5 ACDelco Bruce Williams (VIC) Holden Torana SL R 12 8 1:20.8093 0:01.628810 9 Jesus Racing Andrew Fisher (NSW) Ford Falcon XY GT HO 12 4 1:20.8622 0:01.681711 72 GFR Industries Geoff Fane (QLD) Chevrolet Camaro SS 12 10 1:22.1725 0:02.992012 3 F3 Motor Auctions / Lucky's Ho Cameron Mason (NSW) Ford Mustang Fastbac 10 6 1:22.5030 0:03.322513 97 Johns Furniture Removals Allen Boughen (QLD) Mercury Comet 9 6 1:22.5833 0:03.402814 29 Burrells Soils & Sand / Brad T Jamie Tilley (NSW) Ford Mustang Coupe 12 10 1:22.6573 0:03.476815 28 Speedgas / Brad Tilley Auto Ga Brad Tilley (NSW) Ford Falcon XY GT HO 12 11 1:22.7181 0:03.537616 74 Lyndways Builders Wayne Mercer (VIC) Ford Falcon XY GT HO 11 8 1:23.2086 0:04.028117 85 Whiteline Racing / King Spring Mark King (QLD) Holden Monaro GTS Co 7 4 1:23.2668 0:04.086318 65 Cannon Trailers Michael Cannon (QLD) Ford Falcon XY GT HO 12 11 1:23.2845 0:04.104019 4 Skye Sands Rusty French (VIC) Ford Mustang Fastbac 11 7 1:23.8556 0:04.675120 46 THD Motorsport Leo Tobin (VIC) Ford Boss Mustang 10 9 1:24.4095 0:05.229021 19 Tincone Industrial Services Darren Beale (QLD) Holden Monaro GTS Co 12 7 1:24.8478 0:05.667322 2 Shannons Insurance Jim Richards (VIC) Ford Falcon Sprint 7 5 1:26.1893 0:07.008823 27 MOCOMM Motorsport Communicatio Jim Policina (NSW) Holden Monaro GTS Co 11 11 1:26.4232 0:07.242724 7 Wisely Motorsport Bob Wisely (QLD) Holden Torana A X 10 6 1:34.7303 0:15.5498