IT was a case of fast, flowing Waters on day one of this year's Bathurst 1000 - no it didn't rain but rather Tickford star Cameron Waters topped the time sheets.
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After topping the time sheets during Thursday's opening session with a two minute and 5.02 lap in his For Mustang, Waters lowered that mark in the last session to a 2:04.1696.
Champion-elect Scott McLaughlin was next fastest in 2:04.4633 and Shane van Gisbergen went third quickest in 2:04.4938.
Here's what that trio, as well as others who tackled Mount Panorama on day one, had to say:
Lee Holdsworth, #5 Truck Assist Racing
"Pretty happy with the day, we started with a car that was a bit sketchy, and we tuned it up through the day," he said.
"Carus did a great job to continue on with our program and improve the car, and when I jumped back in I felt we had definitely made gains, and we continued to do so through practice three.
"Both of my sessions were well inside the top 10 and Carus was just outside of it, but I know he had a lot to spare. We're feeling confident that we have a good direction for tomorrow."
Cameron Waters, #6 Monster Energy Racing
"It was a great start to the weekend, the car feels good, and Will's fitting in quite good as well. It was a) productive day, the car's straight which is the main thing, the only hiccup was running out of fuel (at the end of practice three)," he said.
"We'll just probably work on race car tomorrow, obviously there's the question mark about weather, but we can't control that so we'll just focus on what we're doing now and keep getting Wilbur comfy in the car, and we'll go from there."
James Courtney, #44 Boost Mobile Racing
"It was a pretty good day overall. We made progress with the car, Broc did a great job getting comfortable, we had reasonable speed, and we know where we're lacking speed, so a pretty good first day," he said.
"We had a minor electrical drama at the end of the last session which probably didn't help me get the most out of the lap, but I'm pretty comfortable with where we are, and yeah, looking forward to going again tomorrow."
Jack Le Brocq, #55 Supercheap Auto Racing
"The day wasn't too bad, a nice solid start and the car came out straight which is the most important bit," he said.
"We have a bit of speed to find - some out of the car, some out of the driver - but we'll work our way through it. The car isn't too bad, and the team cars overall look quite strong, so we'll give the Supercheap Auto Mustang a tune up tonight and go have some fun tomorrow."
Jamie Whincup, #888 Red Bull Holden Racing Team
"It's as intense as ever inside the garage, even if it looks a bit quiet outside. Apart from the steering rack issue in practice two, we had a solid day. We tried a heap of stuff and not everything was faster but that's what testing is all about," he said
We got a heap of data, which is good. The end result is that we're not the quickest at the moment, so we've still got work to do to try to refine our package and be as fast as we can.
"I don't know at this stage exactly what happened with the steering rack, other than the pump failed. Any failure is concerning, so we'll analyse all the info massively and make sure we're on top of everything for the race."
Shane van Gisbergen, #97 Red Bull Holden Racing Team
"Today went okay for us. The track was completely different in the afternoon compared to this morning, but we made some positive changes to the car which is good and we made some good progress," he said.
"There are some quick cars out there, so tomorrow will be an interesting day on track. Garth and I are pretty much on the same page; struggling with traction but that sort of fixed itself as soon as the rubber went down, but we'll probably have to keep chasing that when it starts raining, so it will be a bit of a mixed bag but we'll see."
Scott McLaughlin, #12 Shell V Power Racing
"We're just working to our plan. We had some big wholesome changes today to try and get a bit of a direction. So far, so good," he said.
"We're just sort of okay everywhere, there aren't any huge strengths or weaknesses. The car next door is fast so we'll have a look at that. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Fabian Coulthard, #12 Shell V Power Racing
"We have been fast all day, but I just made a mistake there on that fast lap. We're still chasing a bit of rear stability in the car, but overall I'm really stoked with how we've rolled out." "Tim has been awesome, he jumped straight in the seat today and hasn't really driven this car since Tailem Bend. He was really fast, and that was his first go. It was a good day, and I think we are on for a good weekend."
André Heimgartner, #7 NED Racing
"Today went fairly well, the car has felt really comfortable all day which is what you want around here. It's been great for myself and Dylan to really get reacquainted with this track and have confidence in the car that it's not going to do anything weird. I think that really bodes well for the race car package that we have," he said.
"The car is particularly nice across the top of the mountain in those areas where you want high-speed stability and aero performance so I was able to build up to it and in the end put together a pretty solid lap that was good enough for P4."
"There's a bit more we'll work on with the car to make it a bit more speedy for qualifying with a more aggressive setup, but we have a pretty good starting point at the moment."
Rick Kelly, #15 Castrol Racing
"It was good to get here and get the car around the track today. We had three hours of Practice and a big focus of that was getting Dale comfortable in the car because it's the first time he's done any laps in the Mustang," he said.
"We had a little bit of nervousness in the back of the car which makes it a challenge around here because it doesn't give you a lot of confidence. So I was just a little cautious, particularly in that last session because I wasn't quite sure what we were going to get.
"The good news is the car #7 guys are slightly different in their direction and they had some great pace. But prep is going well, there's the focus on qualifying setup and race pace and we're going ok in both."
Mark Winterbottom, #18 IRWIN Racing
"We had a good first hit out today, we ended the day 11th in that last run and just on the fringe of the top 10," Winterbottom said.
"Jimmy [Golding] did a great job in his co-driver laps today and he's settled in seamlessly with the team this week.
"We'll work hard overnight, we've got a few things we want to tune up on the car but we're happy with what we've started with today."
Scott Pye, #20 DEWALT Racing
"We had a solid first day with plenty of laps in the bank," Pye said.
"It was great for Dean [Fiore] to do some long race runs so we didn't put so much effort into one lap speed rather focus on our race car for Sunday.
"In saying that, our one-lap speed was okay and tomorrow'll find a little more speed as we build towards qualifying, but overall today was very successful for us, we should have a strong race car.
"The track was pretty speedy at the end, the times we saw were impressive and that was pretty relevant to what qualifying could be tomorrow at the same time of day.
"The morning was a bit cooler but given it was the first time on track and it was pretty dusty the track wasn't as quick as it was by the afternoon.
"There's a high chance of rain later in the weekend but we'll just take it as it comes, if it rains on Sunday it will make the race exciting and keep things interesting throughout the day."
David Reynolds, #9 Penrite Racing
"We rolled out pretty happy and was up to speed straight away. Will did a very good job. We tried a couple changes with him and then I jumped in for my last session," he said.
"I thought my car felt the best in practice 1 but we will sit down tonight and think about what changes we will make to better our car tomorrow. It's been a strong start and I am really looking forward to Sunday's race."
Anton De Pasquale, #99 Penrite Racing
"It's good to be back at Bathurst. IT's a bit different coming off most the year with flat out racing, so you go from session to session with no time to get out of your suit or think about things. So, we have had heaps of time today which has been different," he said.
"Our car has been decent and been there or there abouts, and Brodie has done a good job so far. We are consistent but still need to find a bit more speed in qualifying trim and see where we can end up tomorrow."
