Mark Winterbottom tops final practice as Lowndes & Luff wreck
Mark Winterbottom was fastest in the final practice session of the Bathurst 1000km for Ford Performance Racing, while their was drama as two of the pole position contenders, Craig Lowndes in the #888 Holden Commodore and Warren Luff, co-driver to Garth Tander in the #2 Holden Racing Team entry, had a massive accident 20 minutes in and could both miss the shootout.
During the early stages of the practice, Dale Wood was again on form in the Britek Holden, but Mark Winterbottom took over after just 15 minutes in the Ford Performance Racing Falcon, setting a time in the low 2:07s.
Then, with just over 30 minutes remaining, two incidents took place within moments of each other which could shape the weekend dramatically.
There was a relatively minor incident for the Nissan Altima of Todd Kelly, who slid into the wall at Reid Park and damaged the front-left suspension, while at Griffins Bend, Warren Luff in the #2 Holden Racing Team Commodore experienced a braking issue and ran into the back of Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Holden.
Lowndes’s car took two major hits in the rear, one from Luff’s car and the other as he ran backwards into the tyre barrier, while, Luff’s car also headed backwards into the barrier and rolled onto its side.
Lowndes rushed to aid Luff, his former co-driver, in getting out of the car, and the 38-year-old would later confirm he had no brakes as he went into the corner.
The two cars have major damage to the rear of their cars, and are both at risk at missing the top ten shootout in six hours time, with Lowndes (#888) and Tander (#2) the first two cars scheduled to take part.
After the session resumed, Shane Van Gisbergen began setting a series of fastest laps in the 2:06s to lead the time sheets, but then as the chequered flag waved Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin jumped to the top, followed in short order by Mark Winterbottom, who ended the session quickest with a time of 2:06.0635 for FPR.
The top ten shootout gets underway at 17:10 AEST.
