Supercar Championship contender Jamie Whincup has described the Newcastle 500 track as being like "the Gold Coast on steroids".
Drivers had their first real taste of the 2.6 kilometre track yesterday for two 40 minute practice sessions which saw Jamie Whincup take out the fastest time on the first, and Scott McLaughlin bring it home with the fastest lap on the second practice run.
Whincup was almost a full second faster than McLaughlin in the first practice finishing with 1 minute 10.15 seconds. McLaughlin finished the second practice with the fastest time of 1 minute 09.59 seconds.
Both drivers had nothing but praise for the track after yesterday, telling Supercars Australia:
"It's mad. It's awesome," said McLaughlin.
"Exactly what we thought it was going to be, and probably a bit more."
Whincup said it was a bit bumpier than he was anticipating and it certainly is a challenge.
"You're not even in top gear, it's just a short, little, crazy street circuit. [It's the] Gold Coast on steroids in a way."
"The best part of the circuit is the last part of the corners, coming over the hill down the big rollercoaster into that last, second-last corner," said Whincup.
Today and tomorrow the Supercars will hit the track for two 250km races to decide whether Whincup or McLaughlin will be the 2017 Supercars Champion.
There's plenty of entertainment on and off the track, the Touring Car Masters, V8 Utes, Aussie Race Cars, Toyota 86 and the Dunlop Super2 Series take to the track again today.
The lineup to get wristbands this morning for tonight's concert at the Newcastle 500 certainly were long, but it's sure to be worth the wait with Cold Chisel and Spiderbait taking to the stage in the race precinct tonight.
Last night twin sister duo The Veronicas and Delta Goodrem opened the first night of entertainment for the Newcastle 500 with plenty of fans packing into the heart of the race precinct.
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| Delta Goodrem rocking the Newcastle 500 last night. |
