Late charge from Todd Hazelwood stuns in Perth as David Reynolds goes fastest in V8 Supercars practice

Chaos reigned at CARCO.com.au Raceway in Wanneroo on Friday as the newest generation of V8 Supercars were run through their paces during Practice for the Perth SuperSprint. In a new initiative for the event, the teams were given one 90-minute practice session to test for the whole weekend, and the teams left little to chance. The troublesome turn seven claimed several victims as David Reynolds, Penrite Racing, placed himself atop the time sheets at 54.528 seconds. But the performance of the day came from Cooldrive Racing’s Todd Hazelwood, leaping 18 spots in one stunning lap inside of the final 90 seconds to finish second fastest ahead of championship leader Brodie Kostecki. Reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen showed early pace, with every car rumbling onto the 2.4km circuit as Practise officially got underway. Kostecki’s session was delayed for 20 minutes with brake issues. The session was bizarrely red-flagged inside the first ten minutes as a timing beacon was repositioned. The restart barely lasted another 10 minutes as Andre Heimgartner ran off the road before his teammate Macauley Jones forced a second red flag, beaching his golden Camero at the hazardous turn seven. It was the biggest question of the weekend coming in, with the Gen3 cars struggling with manoeuvrability under braking. Cars continued to battle at the final corner, with James Courtney locking up not long after the second restart while the outside curb was given a pounding. Cameron Hill took a huge dive into the sand pit on top of the hill just as the Brad Jones racing pair of Heimgartner and Jones found their stride, Heimgartner charging up the timesheet to post the fastest time at the third red flag. The drivers settled into their work as the clock wound down, with Kostecki taking over the top of the timesheet while veteran Mark Winterbottom looked good ahead of his 600th race start. Times continued improving as the circuit rubbed in, and 21 of the 24-strong field were on track with fresh tyres for the final three minutes. Traffic proved a problem for Winterbottom before a last-ditch effort from Van Gisbergan fell short, only 14th quickest, as Reynolds posted the top time.