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Golding sweeps practice with record times in Tasmania
JAMES GOLDING has completed a near-perfect day of practice for the opening round of the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship at AWC Race Tasmania, with sub record lap times in Australia’s fastest open wheel field.
Golding was on top in both practice sessions today, his 48.3921 banked to top the second session in the afternoon the fastest lap time ever recorded at Symmons Plains Raceway.
RESULTS: Practice 2
It was the second time in two sessions that the Victorian had set Symmons Plains’ quickest ever lap aboard his Valvoline GRM entry.
Golding headed reigning champion Joey Mawson in the second session, while Versa Motorsport’s Cooper Webster was third in an impressive full-time debut for the brand-new team.
Webster, a race winner last year, was a solid fourth in practice one to emphasise their credentials as contenders this season.
Double champion Tim Macrow was fourth, just 0.3 seconds from Golding’s benchmark, while impressive rookie Blake Purdie was fifth – his Nippy’s machine the first of the two-car 88Racing squad.
His teammate Josh Fife was just fractions behind in sixth position, while Kaleb Ngatoa continued his learning curve at Symmons Plains with a solid seventh. Adam Garwood’s S5000 debut continued to gain pace, too – he was eighth, and just 0.8 seconds away from the fastest time of the session.
The Tasmanian was also beneath the existing Symmons Plains outright lap record.
Having just trailed Golding in the first session, Tim Slade was missing in action in the second practice after his ALABAR / Form 700 Team BRM entry failed to fire following a fuel pump failure.
However, Slade’s practice one best was still quick enough to see him remain second fastest overall on Friday.
Attention turns to qualifying and the opening 25-lap race tomorrow at Symmons Plains, with both to be shown live and ad-break free on Stan Sport. Race 1 will also be shown on 9Gem tomorrow afternoon.