Supercars Adelaide: Courtney tops opening practice on Thursday

James Courtney led David Reynolds in the opening practice session of this weekend’s Supercars Championship finale on the streets of Adelaide.

In the Team18 Chevrolet Camaro, Reynolds topped the times early in the session with a 1m19.8388s before Courtney pipped him by 0.155s to take Friday honours in his Blanchard Racing Ford Mustang.

“The car was really good straight out of the gate,” he said. “I was fast on Friday on the Gold Coast but it’s like a win for us, it has been a tough year. It is getting so much faster so we will stiffen the car up.

“It is the only place where we drive these cars where they are on the edge. We love the rush and this place gives you that rush.”

Reynolds hled the top spot at the beginning before he and his team “changed things and made it slower”, but looks confident going into the weekend.

Third best in the session was Nick Percat in the Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet ahead of another veteran, Will Davison in the Dick Johnson Racing Ford.

Late in the session Chaz Mostert jumped up to fifth for Walkinshaw Andretti United, just ahead of points leader Will Brown. Both Triple Eight Chevrolet drivers mainly focused on set-up and race pace during the session, with Broc Feeney in 13th place.

Seventh fastest in the session was Brodie Kostecki, who was out of the session early after an off caused front damage to his Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet.

Brown comes into the weekend with a 180-point lead over Feeney, the only other driver in title contention. With 150 points on offer for a win in each race, even if Feeney wins for the sixth time on Saturday and Brown finishes fourth, the latter can seal the title in the finale provided he finishes 24th or higher (out of 25 starters).

The Supercars will be back in action on Friday, with the drivers taking to the track at 1:05pm, Australian Central Daylight Savings Time, for a 30-minute practice session. The qualifying session for Saturday’s race will start at 5:30pm, and this will set the grid from 11th onwards.