MAKE SENSE OF THAT! If ever there was a day of practice that offered up more questions than answers, this just might be it. Six rounds of practice, led by 5 different drivers and with 4 manufacturers showing consistently fast pace.  There were times with TLR looked amazing. There was a whole period when Schumacher (a new LD3 prototype making its appearance) were fast. Ongaro, Horne and Rivkin (among others) had the AE car at the very front in multiple rounds. Bruno topped CP1 in the XRAY, and Neumann's SWorkz wasn’t too far off at times either. What a mix!

THE TYRE GAME: It’s one of the big unknowns from today – at least for those of us watching on from a long way away: what choices were made about tyres today? Who was running fresh rubber, convinced that used rubber will be better for qualifying and so sacrificing practice pace? Who ran the whole day on one set, sure that fresh rubber for tomorrow is the right approach? What choices have been made about front tyres?  How will all of those decisions play out over the next five rounds of qualifying and three A finals? You can’t help but think that they tyre game is going to throw up some pretty interesting anomalies in the next 48 hours.

3 LAPS OR 5 MINUTES? Of course the headline 3-lap pace doesn’t really matter other than to group people into their qualifying heat. If we do dig a little deeper and sort the results by full 5 minute runs does it get any clearer? Perhaps a little…Spencer Rivkin and Davide Ongaro do drift a little more consistently toward the front – but then other names pop up too – like Ryan Cavalieri.  And there’s no compulsion on anybody to run a full five minutes, or to start when the buzzer goes, or not to pull to one side a wait a moment for some clear track. The real answer is…nobody knows!

WHICH WAY WILL IT FALL? It kind of feels to me right now like qualifying could go one of two ways. We could see a repeat of today, with a real mix of results, and a whole range of drivers and cars running up front. That would put a premium on finding a way to be consistent and get 3 good scores on the board (remembering the unknowns about Q5 on Saturday morning). Or somebody pops up when we make the move to 5-minute runs and dominates proceedings in the manner that Ongaro did in 4wd. If that were to be the case, it feels like there are four prime suspects: Ongaro (again), Rivkin, Champlin and Phend.

THE NEW NAMES: This also feels like it could be one of those days when first-time contenders at a Worlds seriously emerge. Sontag, Horne, Tollard and Kaerup are the four I’ll be watching most closely.

Or, and this is entirely possible (even “likely”) I could have it all wrong and something entirely different unfolds. What a qualifying day we are setup for tomorrow!  I’ll be pulling the mountain bike over regularly on the morning ride to check the qualifying scores.

How about you – what sense can you make of today?

Photo of the official opening from RCRA EP Offroad - go Team Aus!