Ipswich Supercars: McLaughlin tops opening practice

The DJR Team Penske driver wasn't a factor for much of the half-hour session, with the likes of Jamie Whincup and Will Davison leading the way.

However a move to a fresh set of rubber for a final run made the difference for the points leader, who jumped to the top with a 1m09.182s.

With none of the other front-runners improving at the flag, McLaughlin finished the session just over a tenth clear of Davison.

"I wasn't happy on the first set [of tyres], so I wanted to baseline what we had," said McLaughlin.

"The car is pretty good. There's a bit there in me and the car, but we're pretty happy with where we're at."

Tickford driver Davison had gone quickest with six minutes to go, thanks to a 1m09.417s, before returning with a minute to go for a run on better tyres. However catching some slower traffic at the last corner limited his improvement to a 1m09.325s.

"The guys that are starting their lap do a big wide turn-in to get a good exit," Davison explained.

"I was finishing my lap and lost a little bit in the middle of the last corner just coming up on this guys.

"It's just Practice 1 and the car was fast anyway, we were really quick on our first set of tyres."

Early pacesetter Whincup dropped to third by the flag, followed by Anton De Pasquale.

Chaz Mostert made gains on his final run to slot into fifth, ahead of Kiwis Fabian Coulthard and Andre Heimgartner.

David Reynolds finished up eighth, Shane van Gisbergen ninth after losing much of his session to a gear sensor issue, and Todd Hazelwood in 10th.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Interval
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Mustang GT	1'09.1982
2	23	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	1'09.3253	0.1271	0.1271
3	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.4594	0.2612	0.1341
4	99	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.4695	0.2713	0.0101
5	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Mustang GT	1'09.4824	0.2842	0.0129
6	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Mustang GT	1'09.5902	0.3920	0.1078
7	7	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	1'09.5914	0.3932	0.0012
8	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.6166	0.4184	0.0252
9	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.6178	0.4196	0.0012
10	35	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.6515	0.4533	0.0337
11	5	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	1'09.6830	0.4848	0.0315
12	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	1'09.7594	0.5612	0.0764
13	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.8794	0.6812	0.1200
14	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.9071	0.7089	0.0277
15	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.9317	0.7335	0.0246
16	3	Garry Jacobson	Nissan Altima	1'09.9383	0.7401	0.0066
17	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'09.9543	0.7561	0.0160
18	22	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.0036	0.8054	0.0493
19	34	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.0209	0.8227	0.0173
20	21	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.1406	0.9424	0.1197
21	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.1940	0.9958	0.0534
22	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1'10.2082	1.0100	0.0142
23	19	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.5509	1.3527	0.3427
24	33	Michael Caruso	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.7836	1.5854	0.2327