Warren Luff leads Triple Eight 1-2-3 in co-driver only FP4

Triple Eight’s Warren Luff was fastest of all in the second of the co-driver only free practice sessions at Mount Panorama, leading Triple Eight team-mates Paul Dumbrell and Mattias Ekström.

The two Red Bull Triple Eight cars led the early running, with Paul Dumbrell in the #1 car initially ahead of Warren Luff, before Luff took over P1 with a time of 2:09.458 after 15 minutes of the session.

A few minutes later the #9 Erebus Mercedes of Steve Johnson went quickest of all, just over a tenth of a second faster than Luff.

At the 25 minute mark, two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekström jumped to the top of the time sheets in the Xbox One backed Triple Eight Holden Commodore, setting a time two-tenths faster than that of Johnson, before Dumbrell found more even pace in the #1 Holden and took the spot back a few minutes later.

With just five minutes to go, Luff jumped back ahead in the #888 car which he’s sharing with Craig Lowndes this weekend, setting a time almost four-tenths of a second faster than Dumbrell and ensuring Triple Eight left the session with a top three lockout.

Johnson finished the session fourth fastest for Erebus Mercedes, followed by the two Garry Rogers Motorsport Holdens of Jack Perkins and Greg Ritter.

Steve Owen was the fastest of the Fords in eighth, with David Russell the best placed of the Nissan drivers in ninth.

Missing from the sessions today is the #47 Erebus Mercedes of Tim Slade and Andrew Thompson. Slade’s C63 was severely damaged after a 33G crash at The Cutting in FP3 on Thursday. The team are working to repair the car in time for Saturday, where there is a practice session at 10:05 AEDT, but they will therefore miss Friday afternoon’s qualifying and will be consigned to the back of the grid.

The next session is the fifth practice session, which gets under way at 11:05 AEDT.