Fiore explains Thursday practice crash
Supercars
05 Oct 2023
Fiore first victim of Gen3 era at Mount Panorama
#14 Middy's Camaro sustains front end damage after Murray's Corner crash
#14 entry later disqualified from Practice 2 over missing tow strap
Dean Fiore is confident Brad Jones Racing mechanics don’t have too big a task ahead of themselves after his Thursday practice crash at Mount Panorama.
Fiore crashed out early of Practice 2, dedicated for Additional Drivers, at the Repco Bathurst 1000 on Thursday afternoon.
The veteran co-driver, again paired with Bryce Fullwood, locked up at Murray’s Corner and fired the #14 Chevrolet into the tyre barriers.
The incident consigned Fiore to being the first crasher of the Gen3 era at Mount Panorama, although the incident was relatively mild.
For Fiore, “pretty average” tyres were put on the car to help him ready for 60 minutes of practice to himself, but he only managed two laps.
“We were on some pretty average tyres just to bed myself in,” Fiore said on the broadcast after returning to the garage.
“I’m usually pretty steady when it comes to this stuff, I haven’t done this in a while.
“It wasn’t an ideal start to the weekend, I really need the laps in this car. But it’s fine. The boys will get it back out, they’re great at what they do.
“I don’t think [the damage] was that bad. We were sort of stuck under the tyre barrier there for a little bit.”
It got worse for BJR and Fiore, with the #14 disqualified from the Practice 2 results over a missing tow strap. Per the stewards' report, the #14 was rubbed out of the results after the car was found to not have the secondary internal strap tow strap fitted, which was a breach of Rule C2.1.1.
Co-drivers will again get Mount Panorama to itself on Saturday in Practice 5, with drivers to return to the track for Practice 3 on Saturday morning.
Thursday’s running was headed by Erebus Motorsport, with Will Brown quickest in Practice 1 before David Russell, who is racing with Brodie Kostecki, dominated Practice 2.
