Nick Percat put on a stunning drive to finish sixth in Race 1 of the Supercars Championship at Albert Park, while Cameron Hill was just shy of the top 10.
It was a busy opening day, the busiest day of the Supercars season in fact, with two practice sessions, two qualifying sessions, and a race.
Having qualified sixth, Percat made a strong start and was running in the podium positions in the early stages.
The Bendix Racing driver was battling Chaz Mostert when a small touch resulted in a five-second time penalty, robbing Percat of a podium.
He didn’t slow down, however, setting the fastest lap of the race at one stage, before taking the chequered flag third and being relegated to sixth.
The #4 Tyrepower Racing Camaro of Hill also got off to a strong start, with Hill fighting his way into the top 10 with good race craft.
However, that work became un-done with a small mistake at Turn 1, running across the grass and yielding a handful of positions.
Hill recovered to a solid 13th at the end of the race, having run inside the top 10 for most of the scheduled 19-lapper.
Race 2 for the weekend takes place on Friday at 2:55pm.
QUOTEBOARD
Nick Percat – Driver of #10:
“Qualified well for Race 1 in 6th; the race car in this afternoon’s race was mega fast, so went from 6th to 3rd at the chequered flag. Copped a penalty for some ‘rubbing is racing’ with Chaz, but the positive of it all was that the Bendix car was seriously fast, and I thought if I could of got through on Matt Payne and made it stick we probably could of harassed the Red Bulls. We will try again tomorrow.”
Cameron Hill – Driver of #4:
“Huge day with practice, qualifying and Race 1 all in a very short space of time. Not a lot of turn around time so had to really be on the ball with the car setup and a few driving things for me. I feel like we settled in and improved across the day. We went forward in the race and just a little mistake at Turn 1 cost me three spots close to the end. A good day, really, and I am happy with that for the most part. Kept the car pretty clean and there’s still three races to go so still lots to do.”
