VALO Adelaide 500 Friday Wrap

Holden hero driver Chaz Mostert put his race car on provisional pole to cap off a stunning day for VALO Adelaide 500 race fans on the second day of the event.

 

Two SA-born drivers – Scott Pye and Todd Hazelwood, also driving Holdens – gave the locals more to cheer about in the Supercars’ qualifying session to end the day at the track, which earlier had a S5000 Series car record the fastest lap ever completed around the Adelaide street circuit.

 

With the first races being held on Friday, more people took advantage of their grandstand seats and saw several local drivers and teams have success in the support categories.

 

Pit paddock was also popular among punters to see teams at work in the pit garages, while helicopters constantly took race fans for joy flights from their landing pad near Gate 1.

 

The first on-track Supercars Driver Signing session attracted a long line of race fans at the event from as far away as Abu Dhabi.

 

They were eager to secure the autographs of Hazelwood and fellow South Aussie Nick Percat as well as this season’s champion Shane van Gisbergen, among others.

 

Hazelwood said the support SA drivers had received over the past two days had been overwhelming.

 

“It’s been unreal. Adelaide really feels alive,” he said.

 

Percat said he was enjoying the vibe and the new facilities, such as VALO’s Superscreens.

 

“It’s only Friday and it seems quite busy,” he said.

 

“The team has done an amazing job.

 

“Everything seems to be a world-class event, it’s very cool.”

 

Supercars’ qualifying session set the grid for the first race on Saturday for those in positions 11 to 25, with the first 10 drivers to battle for their final positions in the Top Ten Shootout to be held at 12.35pm on Saturday.

 

Also on track, the first major crash of the day occurred within an hour of gates opening when Prince Jefri Ibrahim crashed his Mercedes AMG GT3 nose-first into the fence in qualifying for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS.

 

SA driver Yasser Shahin won the first race for the support category later in the day with co-driver Christopher Mies.

 

The first race of the weekend – the Trophy Race of the Touring Car Masters – brought out the first race safety car when Gerard McLeod spun out, then after the restart, race leader Ben Dunn crashed. The race was won by George Miedecke for SA team Whiteline Racing.

 

SA’s Joel Heinrich put his local knowledge to good use to put his Aussie Racing Car on pole in the morning, then won both races held in the afternoon.

 

But it was the S5000 Series that turned the most heads with Aaron Cameron setting a new all-time lap record during qualifying of 1:15.4972.

 

However, he damaged his open-wheeler at Turn 11 during the first race, leaving Nathan Herne to take the first race win for the category in Adelaide.