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Thomas Randle on the edge of The Bend lap record in Practice 1
It took less than 20 minutes for Australia’s new-generation S5000 single-seaters to rattle the record book at Tailem Bend in South Australia.
Three young guns from Supercars battled for supremacy through opening practice at the second S5000 event of 2020, with Tom Randle eventually finishing on top and lapping the track in 1 Minute 41.6079 seconds.
His quickest time was less than a second away from the outright fastest time set John Magro in a Formula 3 car earlier in the year, with much more to come.
“There you go. I’m pretty happy with that. It’s pretty good,” says Randle as he jumps from his car.
He was followed by James Golding on 1:41.9391 and Anton de Pasquale on 1:42.0556, as the thundering 11-car field got down to business.
“I’m just trying to get into the swing of things again. I haven’t driven an open-wheeler for two years,” says Randle.
“We’re getting faster,” says Golding.
“Everyone will be getting quicker and quicker through the day.”
Pasquale says he is working up to speed in his debut in S5000.
“It was OK. It’s only practice 1,” he says.
“I’m still getting my head around it. But it’s always fun when you’re driving something quick.”
The other Supercars star in the field, Will Brown, is doing double duty in the finale of the carsales TCR Australia series but still managed sixth-quickest time.
“I haven’t driven one of these cars here before. Most of the other blokes had a test yesterday. But we’ll get there,” he says.
The next session will be held at 3:05pm local time this afternoon.
Results to follow.