Jacques Villeneuve has found the Surfers Paradise circuit like returning to a familiar friend.
His co-driver, Paul Dumbrell driving in a Falcon, is only one-tenth of a second slower than the 1.12.34 than Mark Winterbottom at 1.12.44 the Canadian Indy 500 Champion and World Champion is enjoying his stint in Australia’s version of road going NASCAR. “It was fun, it is important to find the limit before the race, in a place like this it is very easy to make a mistake and you don’t want to do that because you will cost your co-driver points,” said Jacques Villeneuve. “The track is quite different to when I was here in IndyCar, it is very fun, its quite fun to be driving between the walls and when you get on that fine line for a special lap it is a pretty good feeling,” added Jacques Villeneuve.
Twin 300km races combine local V8 Supercars drivers and “internationals” who must drive at least 35 per cent of each heat. The 2.98 kilometer track has been shortened by about 1.5 kilometers from the old Gold Coast Indy which ran from 1991 to 2009. For the internationals, it was the IndyCar and Champ Car stars past and present that were leading the way, with three time Gold Coast open-wheel pole sitter Will Power the quickest of the visiting drivers, from two-time Gold Coast winner Sebastien Bourdais and 2008 Gold Coast winner Ryan Briscoe. Will Power, the Aussie who was runner-up for the IndyCar title, said: "It was a really good day, I got the hang of the car and slowly crept up on it and kept it off the wall, which was the first aim. I learned what I could about the car, I feel pretty comfortable and very relaxed. "I think we are in for a good weekend. Even though they have shortened the track, it is a still as fun as it ever was. The shorter track is good for us Internationals as we get some more laps, we need as many laps as we can and that's what I got today." V8 Supercars : Combined Practice Results : Armor All Gold Coast 600 1. #5 M.Winterbottom/L.Youlden 1:12.3486 2. #55 P.Dumbrell/J.Villeneuve 1:12.4420 3. #18 J.Courtney/W.Luff 1:12.5077 4. #2 G.Tander/C.McConville 1:12.6403 5. #33 L.Holdsworth/G.Ritter 1:12.6524 6. #8 J.Richards/A.Jones 1:12.6583 7. #888 C.Lowndes/A.Priaulx 1:12.7878 8. #14 J.Bright/A.Menu 1:12.8618 9. #51 G.Murphy/Y.Muller 1:12.8837 10. #3 T.D'Alberto/T.Monteiro 1:12.8855 11. #9 S.Van Gisbergen/J.McIntyre 1:12.9077 12. #7 T.Kelly/S.Dixon 1:12.9248 13. #39 R.Ingall/J.Perkins 1:13.0394 14. #6 S.Richards/W.Power 1:13.0720 15. #34 M.Caruso/P.Long 1:13.0949 16. #17 S.Johnson/D.Franchitti 1:13.1741 17. #24 F.Coulthard/D.Reynolds 1:13.2110 18. #22 W.Davison/R.Briscoe 1:13.2328 19. #15 R.Kelly/O.Kelly 1:13.2598 20. #1 J.Whincup/S.Owen 1:13.2832 21. #21 K.Reindler/F.Giovanardi 1:13.3591 22. #47 T.Slade/H.Castroneves 1:13.3801 23. #4 A.Davison/D.Brabham 1:13.3860 24. #12 D.Fiore/G.Morbidelli 1:13.5545 25. #19 J.Webb/S.Bourdais 1:13.6182 26. #11 J.Bargwanna/A.Tagliani 1:13.6894 27. #10 A.Thompson/M.Salo 1:14.7000 28. #16 T.Ricciardello/D.Wood 1:15.3150 29. #30 N.Pretty/S.Pruett 1:15.6548
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