It's only day one and it looks like the Newcastle 500 is going to be a big hit with racegoers.
Thousands poured through the gates today to watch the V8 Supercars hit the track for their first practice runs ahead of the Supercars Championship decider on the weekend.
The first 40 minute practice got underway at midday with 2017 Championship contender and six-time champion Jamie Whincup bringing home the fastest lap time at just over 1 minute 10.15 seconds.
Not far behind him was Scott Pye, Shane Van Gisbergen, Michael Caruso and in fifth place Tim Slade.
The other big contender for the 2017 Championship title Scott McLaughlin came in at 7th with a time of 1 minute 11.06 seconds.
McLaughlin fought back in Practice 2 though, he came out on top with the fastest time of 1 minute 09.59 seconds just ahead of Whincup who finished the practice in second place with a time of 1 minute 10.02 seconds.
Todd Kelly came along in third, followed by Scott Pye, Fabian Coulthard, Tim Slade and David Reynolds in sixth.
There was only one small incident during the first practice with Mark Winterbottom locking up on the first turn heading down onto the escape road, he made a turn left to rejoin the track.
The Toyota 86 series cars, Aussie Race Cars, V8 Utes and Dunlop Super2 Series also hit the track today.
The Toyota 86's are out in practice once again! #Newcastle500 pic.twitter.com/KgbTNX0zos— 2NURFM News (@2NURFMNews) November 24, 2017
Meanwhile, it's all hands on deck from Newcastle City Council's perspective for this weekend.
Council has rostered on 120 extra staff to cover the weekend with extra staff including rangers, food inspectors, waste collection crews, parks crews, lifeguards, parking officers and communication officers.
Speaking of waste collection, an extra 600 waste bins have been placed throughout the surrounding areas of the race precinct which will be emptied twice a daily from today until Sunday to cater for the extra people moving in and around the city. Supercars Australia will be looking after waste collection within the precinct.
Road crews will be on deck to respond to any issues with council-managed roads and lifeguards will be stationed at all of the beaches including Newcastle Beach and Nobbys Beach.
 |
| Image @HunterHappenings Twitter |
