Priaulx leads international driver practice

Andy Priaulx was fastest in the first ‘international drivers only’ practice at the Gold Coast 600 this weekend, leading from a pack of Indycar stars.

Priaulx, who is racing for the Triple Eight Race Engineering team sharing with three-time champion Craig Lowndes, set a best lap of 1:14.580, just 1.5 seconds down on Steven Richards’ best in the regular drivers’ session earlier in the day.

Sebastian Bourdais, taking part with Dick Johnson Racing, was second fastest, putting in a quick lap in the final stages of the session. Will Power was third in the Ford Performance Racing Falcon.

Helio Castroneves, driving in the Wilson Security Racing car, was on top for much of the session, but with ten minutes remaining, caused the first red flag of the weekend, hitting the concrete barrier whilst on another flyer.

Castroneves time ended up good enough for tenth at the end of the session.

Other touring car regulars were in the back half of the field as they adjusted to the circuit and the high powered 5.0 litre, rear-wheel drive, V8 Supercars, as well as the tight Surfers Paradise circuit.

Superstars’ driver Gianni Morbidelli was 12th, Chevrolet WTCC driver Alain Menu 13th, Fabrizio Giovanardi 15th, Yvan Muller 16th and Tiago Monteiro 17th of the 17 international runners in the session.

There is another practice scheduled where they will run along with the other co-drivers taking part this weekend.