Brede crash to put BOC car out?

A crash in practice could have forced the Team BOC #12 Ford Falcon out of action for this weekend's Super Cheap Auto 1000 after Dale Brede crashed the car he was due to share with Scot John Cleland.

With the luckless Brede at the wheel in the first practice session, the #21 Team BOC Ford clipped the inside wall at Forest Elbow, careering the car across the apex of the corner and head first into a tyre barrier, causing major structural damage to the right hand front section.

"We were struggling with the car for most of the session before the accident happened," explains Brede. "I was trying to get more and more from it and as I was pushing hard, I just touched the inside of the corner at Forest Elbow.

The touch was enough to totally unsettle the cornering of the car and I ended up going straight ahead into the outside wall.

I knew straight away that it was a decent hit but when you are sitting in the car all you hope for that the damage is less than you think it is. Unfortunately this time it wasn't," Brede added.

Team manager, Kim Jones has thrown his support totally behind Brede.

"There are two things that Dale deserves our respect for," said Jones. "Firstly he was brave enough to admit and deal with the fact it was a misjudgement, there are many drivers that wouldn't show the same sort of courage. Secondly, he was trying his guts out at the time and you can never be critical of that.

"This is one of the most unforgiving circuits in the world. The same sort of mistake would go unscathed at 90% of other race tracks."

Team BOC originally assessed the #12 Falcon and decided that the repair job was too large to complete in the team garage. Late Thursday afternoon, the car was transferred to the highly experienced Smash Repair Team who will further gauge the situation overnight.

Team BOC are expected to make an announcement early Friday morning on whether it will be a one or two car assault on Bathurst this year.

It was better news for the lead Team BOC Falcon of John Bowe and Brad Jones but their day wasn't without incident. Brad Jones had a hairy moment early on in the session and both drivers were not happy with the balance of the #21 Falcon. The pair were positioned 18th fastest after the day's action.