R13 PRAC - Wild weather creates havoc in practice
16/11/2000 20:22 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) - Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife have grabbed provisional pole for Sunday’s FAI 1000 – which could prove more valuable than anyone would have imagined.
Mt Panorama has been lashed with wild weather today, the opening day of proceedings, and brought a premature end to the final practice session this afternoon.
The week-long downpour has caused rivers of water across much of the circuit, making driving the road course unsafe under current conditions. Fog also descended on top of the mountain late in the day, reducing visibility significantly.
If the weather doesn’t improve and cancels tomorrow’s qualifying session, today’s times will stand ahead of the top ten run-off on Saturday morning.
The second session was eventually halted after Melinda Price, the only female in this year’s race, aquaplaned off Mountain Straight and collided heavily with the wall.
Price was shaken but uninjured, however the team faces a long night in the TAFE workshop to have the car ready for tomorrow morning’s qualifying session.
Few drivers were able to set a competitive time before the session was aborted.
The Holden Racing Team lead car topped the time sheets in an extremely wet morning session with a cautious 2:30.76 minute lap.
The Castrol-coloured Commodore of Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall clocked a time just one one-thousandth slower than the Factory Holden.
Ford-Tickford Racing’s second pairing of Neal Bates and Wayne Gardner showed good early pace with the third fastest time. Championship aspirant Garth Tander, teaming with Jason Bargwanna, were fourth fastest.
The Trevor Crittenden Motorsport entry of Chris Butler and Miles Pope will take no further part in the weekend after failing a pre-qualifying test.
With rain set to continue into the weekend, most teams are revising their qualifying set-ups to cope with the wet conditions.
However, forecasters are predicting the heavy clouds that hover over Mt Panorama will clear by Sunday morning. If all practice and qualifying sessions are held in the wet, and Sunday’s race takes place under clear skies, it will cause problems of its own for teams and drivers
More practice time is scheduled for tomorrow morning, before official qualifying gets under way at 1:05pm local time.
**TOP TEN - PRACTICE**
1st LOWNDES/SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [2:30.760min]
2nd INGALL/PERKINS (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [2:30.761]
3rd BATES/GARDNER (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [2:31.296]
4th BARGWANNA/TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [2:31.938]
5th BESNARD/LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [2:32.644]
6th ELLERY/STOKELL (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon [2:32.687]
7th BRIGHT/RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [2:33.104]
8th JONES/TRATT (Toll Racing) - AU Falcon [2:33.394]
9th CRICK/WEEL (K & J Thermal Products Racing) - AU Falcon [2:33.457]
10th JOHNSON/McLEAN (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [2:33.462]
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