A TYPICALLY crazy day on the streets of Surfers Paradise points to a typically intense weekend of racing in Round 7 of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship on the Gold Coast.

An incident-filled day saw several high-profile contenders – including both the Equity-One Pro and SP Tools Pro-Am championship leaders – find the unforgiving concrete walls across a pair of 25-minute practice sessions.

Those sessions were headed by Bayley Hall (Practice One) and Marcos Flack (Practice two) respectively, the former setting the quickest time of the day and the latter leaping to the top of the charts late in the second session in what turned out to be a qualifying-style shootout at the end.

Hall topped practice one in a session that saw championship leader Harri Jones collect the wall on just his second lap, forcing him out of the session.

It was a rare mistake from the championship leader who has swept all before him so far this year.

Hall’s effort ensured he picked up where he left off on the Gold Coast twelve months ago, the Surfers-based driver having claimed his maiden race and round victories at the venue last year.

Hall led Dale Wood by less than a tenth, while David Russell and Glen Wood were next – Adrian Flack topping Pro-Am and placing 11th outright.

The session saw a red flag interruption to recover two cars; the McElrea entry of Lachlan Bloxsom and the EBM car of Tom McLennan.

The former had hit the wall at turn 11, with the latter having nowhere to go and making contact with the rear of Bloxsom’s car, ending both drivers’ respective days.

McLennan was sent for precautionary checks on his neck following the incident and was discharged later in the day.

Practice two was equally scrappy as several drivers had large moments while they tried to find the limits.

The biggest moment of all was from Adrian Flack, who heavily found the concrete at turn 10 – the exit of the notorious Beach Chicane – late in the session.

Flack’s car was unsettled by the kerbs at the high-speed chicane, spinning him around at high speed and into the wall.

His Earl Bamber Motorsport team were assessing the damage following the session however it is expected to race and qualify on Saturday.

Flack leads the Pro-Am title race by a substantial margin – and can’t lose the series lead this weekend – however closest rivals Matt Slavin and

That set up a final dash to the end of the session in what was something of a qualifying simulation. There, Marcos Flack jumped to the top in an intense shootout at the end aboard his Bob Jane T-Marts / Sonic Motor Racing entry – beating David Russell to the punch by 0.03s.

Russell had previously jumped to the top of the charts but was beaten by a tiny margin by his young Sonic rival at the very end of the session.

Dale Wood was next, Bayley Hall fourth in another strong performance and points leader Jones fifth in his first real hit out of the day.

His teammate Fabian Coulthard, Dylan O’Keeffe, Glen Wood, Nash Morris and Ange Mouzouris completed a top-10 covered by just 0.59 seconds.

Dean Cook grabbed the top spot in Pro-Am over Rodney Jane, with Stephen Grove – who starts his 200th Carrera Cup race tomorrow – next.

Teams will work late into the Gold Coast evening to ensure all is sorted for qualifying tomorrow morning, the session due to start at 9:40am local (Queensland) time.

Race 1 will follow at 1:55pm with all sessions to be shown live on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo Sports, Race 1 also to be shown live on Channel 7.