Gold Coast V8s: Moffat fastest in final pre-qualifying practice
James Moffat topped the fourth and final Friday practice session on the Gold Coast with a blistering late lap in the #99 Nissan.
James Moffat and Taz Douglas, Nissan Motorsports
Herb Powell
Just a day after the announcement that he will leave the Nissan squad at the end of the season, Moffat brought his A-game to the final session of the day. Running on soft tyres, Moffat stormed to the top of the times with a 1m10.799s right at the flag.
That time was good enough to displace Shane van Gisbergen from top spot, the Kiwi having been the first man in to the 1m10s bracket when he went 1m10.878s, and then 1m10.872s, right after a mid-session red flag due to problems with kerbing at the first chicane.
Craig Lowndes was third fastest with a 1m11.060s, ahead of Michael Caruso, who capped off a good day for Nissan with a 1m11.073s.
David Reynolds spent much of the first session on top of the times, his 1m11.081s coming just five minutes in, and standing until the red flag intervention.
Scott McLaughlin led Volvo’s charge in sixth, ahead of Will Davison and James Courtney, who continues to impress on his return from injury.
Jamie Whincup, meanwhile, was just 24th fastest, and completed only 11 laps as the Triple Eight team continued to work through a vibration issue that traces back to his FP1 crash.
Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
1 | James Moffat | Nissan | 1:10.7995 | |
2 | S.van Gisbergen | Holden | 1:10.8727 | 0.0732 |
3 | Craig Lowndes | Holden | 1:11.0603 | 0.2608 |
4 | Michael Caruso | Nissan | 1:11.0731 | 0.2736 |
5 | David Reynolds | Ford | 1:11.0814 | 0.2819 |
6 | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo | 1:11.0976 | 0.2981 |
7 | Will Davison | Mercedes | 1:11.1347 | 0.3352 |
8 | James Courtney | Holden | 1:11.1819 | 0.3824 |
9 | M.Winterbottom | Ford | 1:11.1938 | 0.3943 |
10 | Scott Pye | Ford | 1:11.1996 | 0.4001 |
11 | Garth Tander | Holden | 1:11.2330 | 0.4335 |
12 | Jason Bright | Holden | 1:11.2513 | 0.4518 |
13 | Rick Kelly | Nissan | 1:11.2650 | 0.4655 |
14 | Fabian Coulthard | Holden | 1:11.2762 | 0.4767 |
15 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden | 1:11.3490 | 0.5495 |
16 | Nick Percat | Holden | 1:11.3761 | 0.5766 |
17 | Dale Wood | Holden | 1:11.4673 | 0.6678 |
18 | Todd Kelly | Nissan | 1:11.7200 | 0.9205 |
19 | Tim Slade | Holden | 1:11.7487 | 0.9492 |
20 | A.Heimgartner | Ford | 1:11.8097 | 1.0102 |
21 | Cameron Waters | Ford | 1:11.8747 | 1.0752 |
22 | Tim Blanchard | Holden | 1:11.9911 | 1.1916 |
23 | David Wall | Volvo | 1:12.0454 | 1.2459 |
24 | Jamie Whincup | Holden | 1:12.1884 | 1.3889 |
25 | Ashley Walsh | Mercedes | 1:12.7396 | 1.9401 |
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