Friday, 18th April 2008

Vodafone man leads the way as V8s hit Hamilton.

Michael Caruso was fifth fastest for the Valvoline Cummins team, while Steven Richards rounded out the top six in the first of the Ford Performance Racing entries.

Amongst those to hit trouble during the session was Eastern Creek round winner Will Davison, who went off in the wall at turn seven and heavily damaged the #18 Jim Beam Racing Falcon.

Davison, who ended up 22nd on the times as a result, clipped the inside wall as he went into the turn which damaged the steering on his car and sent him off into the wall on the outside of the corner – severely damaging the car on the right hand side.

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"After the steering broke that was it, I had no control and the result was a fairly big hit, hopefully the guys can fix it overnight and I will come back strong tomorrow," he said. "At a street circuit something like this is always a chance of happening, before that the car was good I just got blind sighted, but that's my first major accident for a long time."

The team will now work overnight to repair front end structural and suspension damage to the car, although Davison is expected to be out on track in time for Saturday's qualifying session.

In total, all 28 drivers set times during the session with a second covering the top 19 drivers on the timesheets.

Free practice times – Hamilton (top ten):

1. Jamie Whincup 888/Vodafone Ford 1m 24.5843s
2. Garth Tander Toll/HRT Holden 1m 24.6229s
3. Shane van Gisbergen SBR/SP Tools Ford 1m 24.8292s
4. Russell Ingall Morris/Supercheap Holden 1m 24.8555s
5. Michael Caruso GRM/Repco Valvoline Holden 1m 24.8918s
6. Steven Richards FPR/Castrol Ford 1m 24.9330s
7. Greg Murphy Tasman Holden 1m 24.9589s
8. Paul Dumbrell Autobarn/HSV Holden 1m 25.0216s
9. Craig Lowndes 888/Vodafone Ford 1m 25.0544s
10. Fabian Coulthard PCR/Glenfords Ford 1m 25.0828s

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