News
Randle finds more speed in Practice 2
Thomas Randle has his eye on the outright lap record at Tailem Bend as he continues his pacey start to S5000 racing in South Australia.
After topping the first single-seater practice he did it again on Friday afternoon to run in front of fellow Supercars young gun Anton de Pasquale and open-wheeler veteran John Martin.
Randle’s quickest lap of 1 minute 41.2460 was less than a second slower than the all-time record at the track and just over half a second ahead of de Pasquale’s best of 1:41.7867.
“It’s even better than the first session. The car feels good,” reports Randle.
“Every time I drive the car I’m getting closer and closer to the record. I’m settling in and I’m after the record.”
For de Pasquale, also making his S5000 debut, the challenge is pushing the car to the limit.
“You’ve got to hustle and work the bitch,” he says with a laugh.
“I’m trying to tune myself and also tune the car. It keeps getting better and better.”
But Martin admits he is struggling to match the leading pair.
“It’s alright. We’re getting there,” Martin says.
But Will Brown is still struggling and more than 1.4 seconds off the pace.
“I just cannot turn. I’m quick through the first sector but then Anton just rips time out of me,” Brown says.
“We’re ages away. It’s not good.”
All 10 cars in the S5000 field ran trouble-free again, although the gap between the fastest and slowest cars is more than seven seconds.
Result, Practice 2
| Pos | Num | Team | Driver | Time | Diff |
| 1 | 49 | Penrite | Thomas Randle | 1:41.2460 | |
| 2 | 99 | PAYCE | Anton de Pasquale (Vic) | 1:41.7867 | 0:00.5407 |
| 3 | 24 | AGI Sport | John Martin (Qld) | 1:42.1603 | 0:00.9143 |
| 4 | 31 | Gippsland Body Builders | James Golding | 1:42.3072 | 0:01.0612 |
| 5 | 23 | Equity One / Holinger / Boylan | Timothy Macrow (Vic) | 1:42.4438 | 0:01.1978 |
| 6 | 34 | Ricky Capo (Vic) | 1:42.7258 | 0:01.4798 | |
| 7 | 8 | Astrontech | James Winslow (SA) | 1:43.0315 | 0:01.7855 |
| 8 | 38 | Eggleston Motorsport | Will Brown | 1:43.2193 | 0:01.9733 |
| 9 | 11 | ACM Finance / WM Waste / Apex | Michael Gibson (Vic) | 1:45.5767 | 0:04.3307 |
| 10 | 89 | Willmington Racing | Braydan Willmington NSW | 1:48.6695 | 0:07.4235 |