Bundy Red Racing’s Fabian Coulthard was the first victim to feel the pain on Sydney’s concrete lined streets in opening practice at the Sydney Telstra 500 today when the #24 Commodore ended the day in the wall at turn 11.

Coulthard’s opening practice session was productive with the 28 year old setting the fourth fastest time of Practice 1. However, at the start of the second 30 minute session, Coulthard went deep under brakes into  turn 11, locked the right front wheel and went sliding into the tyre barrier.

The damage to the #24 Commodore looked superficial, however, the situation was worse than first thought. The team went straight to work on repairing the car and Coulthard was left to sit out the rest of the day’s sessions. 

The team will have the car ready and prepared for tomorrow’s qualifying sessions and first race. 

Coulthard’s team-mate, Andrew Thompson, contested all four sessions in his first outing at the Sydney street circuit. Thompson had double the work load today being forced  to learn a new circuit and work through car set-up variations for this weekend’s races. Thompson rounded out practice in 22nd place.

In the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, Nick Percat also experienced his first laps around Homebush. Like Thompson, the 22 year old, who is driving a Bundy Red Racing Commodore and is in his first year of the V8 Development Series, hasn’t raced around Sydney before. 

Percat drove in two 40 minute practice sessions, finishing the first stint second on the timing sheets behind Championship leader Steve Owen. 

In Practice 2, Percat gained further valuable laps. He completed the day seventh fastest and was happy with his progress. 

The Sydney Telstra 500 continues tomorrow with qualifying, the top ten shootout and the first of two 250km races.

Fabian Coulthard - #24 Bundaberg Red Racing Commodore:

“I arrived at one of the corners over the back of the circuit and attacked the corner like we do every lap and this particular time I snagged a right front wheel and struggled to get it released from locking and ended up in the barrier. There was a bit of damage to the car and a bit of work for the boys ahead but they always provide me with a good car and I am looking forward to getting back into it during qualifying tomorrow.  I think with the tyres that we had we did a reasonable job in the first practice session despite the fact that it was limited. We will be ready to fight back tomorrow.”

Andrew Thompson - #10 Bundaberg Red Racing Commodore:

“This weekend is my first time to Homebush. This is a pretty difficult track to learn and we were a little behind the eight ball because most of the other drivers have driven here before and know what to expect. We worked to a plan in the first two sessions which enabled me to learn the track and get comfortable with that side of things. We had good sessions in Practice 3 and Practice 4 and we bolted a better set of tyres on at the end but unfortunately just didn’t get a clear lap. So far so good, we managed to keep it off the walls so it was a productive day”

Nick Percat - #222 Bundaberg Red Racing Commodore: 

“Today went reasonably well for us. This is an awesome street circuit to drive at and I really enjoyed driving the car today. We rolled to car out of the truck and it was pretty much in the setup window. We ended up second quickest this morning and we were quick again this afternoon so overall it was a good day. I think we have a good shot at being on the front couple of rows for tomorrow’s race. Fingers crossed we get a clear lap and can extract the best lap time.”