Bright leads V8 test, Nissan in top five

Jason Bright was fastest as Nissan proved immediately quick in the first official test of V8 Supercars’ new era at Sydney Motorsport Park on Saturday.

The official pre-season test day was the first time that all four marques participating in the 2013 championship had run together on track.

Long-time sparring partners Holden and Ford are being joined by a factory Nissan effort and Erebus’s new Mercedes project this year.

Brad Jones Holden duo Bright and Fabian Coulthard were first and second in both the morning and the shower-hit afternoon.

Craig Lowndes put champion team Triple 8, now running under Red Bull branding, third.

Rick Kelly showed the Nissan’s potential in fifth, 0.6 seconds off the pace.

Champion Jamie Whincup was seventh fastest, while David Reynolds led the Ford contingent in eighth.

Lucas Dumbrell’s team showed strongly with Dean Fiore fourth and rookie Scott Pye sixth.

Maro Engel was the quickest of the Mercedes trio in 14th place.

Three cars were missing from the test, with Nissan choosing to run Todd Kelly and Michael Caruso in a private session next week and Dick Johnson yet to finalise a team-mate for Tim Blanchard.

The free test day drew a crowd of 17,600 spectators.

See more pictures from the V8 Supercars test in the AUTOSPORT news gallery

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                   Time       Gap
  1.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden          1m28.9655s
  2.  Fabian Coulthard     Brad Jones Holden          1m29.0057s  + 0.0402s
  3.  Craig Lowndes        Triple 8 Holden            1m29.3610s  + 0.3955s
  4.  Dean Fiore           Dumbrell Holden            1m29.5090s  + 0.5435s
  5.  Rick Kelly           Nissan                     1m29.6220s  + 0.6565s
  6.  Scott Pye            Dumbrell Holden            1m30.3537s  + 1.3882s
  7.  Jamie Whincup        Triple 8 Holden            1m30.4820s  + 1.5165s
  8.  David Reynolds       Rod Nash/FPR               1m30.5174s  + 1.5519s
  9.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                   1m30.5242s  + 1.5587s
 10.  Jonathon Webb        Tekno Holden               1m30.6251s  + 1.6596s
 11.  James Courtney       HRT Holden                 1m30.6646s  + 1.6991s
 12.  Shane van Gisbergen  Tekno Holden               1m30.6862s  + 1.7207s
 13.  Scott McLaughlin     Garry Rogers Holden        1m30.7469s  + 1.7814s
 14.  Maro Engel           Erebus Mercedes            1m30.8221s  + 1.8566s
 15.  Russell Ingall       Walkinshaw/HRT Holden      1m30.9331s  + 1.9676s
 16.  Will Davison         FPR Ford                   1m30.9721s  + 2.0066s
 17.  David Wall           Britek/BJR                 1m31.1709s  + 2.2054s
 18.  Garth Tander         HRT Holden                 1m31.3342s  + 2.3687s
 19.  Alexandre Premat     Garry Rogers Holden        1m31.3776s  + 2.4121s
 20.  Tim Slade            Rosenberg/Erebus Mercedes  1m31.3897s  + 2.4242s
 21.  James Moffat         Nissan                     1m31.4003s  + 2.4348s
 22.  Tony D’Alberto       D’Alberto Holden           1m31.4208s  + 2.4553s
 23.  Alex Davison         Schwerkolt/FPR Ford        1m31.4694s  + 2.5039s
 24.  Lee Holdsworth       Erebus Mercedes            1m31.7670s  + 2.8015s
 25.  Tim Blanchard        Dick Johnson Ford          1m33.7276s  + 4.7621s
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/bright-leads-v8-test-nissan-in-top-five

Bill Homeier Kazuyoshi Hoshino Jerry Hoyt Nico Hülkenberg Denny Hulme