Ipswich Supercars: Coulthard finishes Friday on top

Times tumbled in the closing 10 minutes if the session, with improving track conditions thanks to the setting sun and most of the field switching to green tyres. To that point Scott McLaughlin had been fastest with a 1m10.077s, a time that ultimately left him in P7.

Coulthard, meanwhile, popped up in the closing minutes of the session with a 1m09.706s to grab P1 by just 0.05s from Craig Lowndes.

“We stuck to the plan. It’s so hard around here, you never know where you’re at until you put a decent tyre on at the end of the day. It’s tough out there, it’s such a short track. It’s not a bad way to end the day.

Lowndes, who was outside the Top 20 in the first session, hung around the top throughout the session. He was the first to drop into the 1m09s eight minutes from the end, before improving to a 1m09.758s to grab P2.

Chaz Mostert was another late improver to be third fastest, ahead of Nissan’s Rick Kelly and Super Black’s Chris Pither.

Mark Winterbottom was sixth fastest, ahead of McLaughlin, who failed to improve at the end.

Shane van Gisbergen was just eighth fastest, although that was much better than what team-mate Jamie Whincup managed, the #88 Commodore finishing way down in 19th.