Friday Wrap: Is there a surprise favourite in Tasmania?

The final SuperSprint weekend of the season began with a surprise pacesetter as David Reynolds recovered from an engine misfire to top today’s one hour practice session.

Team 18’s apparent surge in form came amid a return to form from the Chevrolet contingent as a whole, with the top nine positions all filled by Camaros.

The makeup of the top ten was bizarre, James Golding continuing his strong form on the Super Soft tyre in second, having claimed a maiden career pole on the same tyre in Darwin.

Matt Stone Racing also continued their strong Tasmania form with two cars in the top ten, and Erebus Motorsport look strong again having claimed two of the three Tasmania wins last year.

Further down the field there are questions as to who used up what in their tyre banks before knockout qualifying tomorrow.

With the threat of weather looming for Saturday running, Supercars.com looks at some of the key takeaways from another interesting Supercars Friday for 2024.

Is David Reynolds the one to beat?

Few people would’ve had David Reynolds topping Practice 1 at the start of the day. In fact, even fewer would’ve said that when the TRADIE Beer Camaro developed an engine misfire rolling out of pit lane. However, after a relatively quick fix, the pace of Reynolds was immediately apparent in Friday practice, flying to the top in the closing stages of the race with a comfortable tenth of a second margin. With teammate Mark Winterbottom within two tenths of Reynolds in fifth, this is arguably the strongest Team 18 have been with both cars since Darwin 2021, when Winterbottom and Scott Pye qualified on the front two rows. At the scene of Team 18’s only pole position back in 2019, this could be a special weekend for Charlie Schwerkolt’s team.

Have WAU solved their Super Soft woes?

Arguably the biggest talking point heading into this weekend, many saw this weekend as the biggest test in Chaz Mostert’s title charge. Last time on the Super Softs was a struggle for Mostert and Ryan Wood, who failed to qualify higher than 20th across both days. Whilst the timesheets would suggest an improvement has been made on the Super Softs, with Wood and Mostert 13th and 14th respectively, the verdict really won’t be made until Boost Mobile Qualifying tomorrow afternoon. The team did seem to focus more on race running today, with Mostert’s engineer Sam Scaffidi reportedly happy with the qualifying pace of his driver. Early signs seem to suggest that there is an improvement, but is it enough of an improvement to launch themselves into the top ten at a circuit where qualifying is of the utmost importance?

Was Triple Eight’s test day the turning point they needed?

A recent test day for the Red Bull Ampol Racing team might prove to be vital in both Will Brown and Broc Feeney’s quest to halt the momentum of Chaz Mostert. Whilst they weren’t at the top of the timesheets today, they were both only two tenths away from Reynolds. Symmons Plains was been a Triple Eight stronghold for a remarkable period of time, having won 26 of the past 39 races in Tasmania. And whilst customer teams PremiAir Nulon Racing and Matt Stone Racing were both ahead of the ‘factory’ Triple Eight squad, they were importantly ahead of Mostert and WAU. You do get the feeling, however, that there could be something in reserve for the current teams championship leaders.

Chevrolet all but sweep the top 10

After Ford returned to form in Townsville and Sydney, Chevrolet bounced back in a big way today filling the top nine positions. However, the Red Bull Ampol Camaros of Broc Feeney and Will Brown were only eighth and ninth, with some different names making their way to the top end of town. Behind Reynolds were James Golding (PremiAir), Jack Le Brocq (Erebus), Cameron Hill (MSR), Winterbottom, Nick Percat (MSR), Bryce Fullwood (BJR), Feeney, and Brown. Cam Waters was the best Mustang, but at a tick over two tenths behind Reynolds, demonstrates how tight the margins are in Tasmania.

Will the rain hit the Plains?

Whilst today was an unusual result, everything could be turned on its head once again tomorrow if forecast rain hits. Up to 5 mm of rain is expected tomorrow from late morning onwards, which could place a real emphasis on making the most of a dry track if there’s mixed conditions. If there is full wet running, could we see wet weather specialists like Andre Heimgartner emerge at the top of the timesheets and further shake up what is an already jumbled pack at the top of the field? After a curious practice session today, there are plenty more questions that are left to be answered across the rest of the weekend.