Perth Supercars: Whincup tops practice with fastest-ever lap

It didn't take long for Scott McLaughlin's existing practice lap record – a 54.573s set in 2017 – to fall, times dropping into the low 54s inside the first few minutes.

On the 15-minute mark the first sub-54s time hit the board, McLaughlin heading into uncharted territory with a 53.821s.

The likes of Whincup, Chaz Mostert and Rick Kelly quickly followed, before Lee Holdsworth lowered McLaughlin's benchmark with a 53.747s 10 minutes from the end.

Mostert, who had led the way in the first 10 minutes, returned to top spot with five minutes to go thanks to a 53.695s.

Tickford teammate Will Davison then went quickest with a 53.478s, at which point it was an all-Mustang top five.

But with three minutes to go Whincup broke the Ford dominance, going quickest with a 53.443s in his Red Bull Holden, a time that wouldn't be beaten.

"First impressions are that we’re much more competitive than Phillip Island," said Whincup.

"It’s not going to guarantee anything, we’ve got to keep the ball rolling, but much more competitive out of the track.

"It’s nice to be in a position where we should be competitive this weekend, but as it always is, we’ve just got to grind it out as the weekend goes on."

There were three Mustangs behind Whincup, with Mostert, Davison, and Fabian Coulthard, while David Reynolds was next-best Holden in fifth.

Holdsworth ended up in sixth, Anton De Pasquale seventh, and McLaughlin eighth.

"Night, plus the new surface, is crazy," said the points leader.

"I was just saying, the first couple of laps took me a bit to get used to it all, but overall pretty happy.

"It was a good couple of race runs there, I feel good.

"Tomorrow is going to be interesting. It’s really, really fun just driving it on the front tyre and hooking it in.

"It’s like a Formula 1 car. It feels like we have a heap of downforce even though we’ve been given a hair cut. So it feels alright."

Scott Pye was ninth, while Cam Waters made sure all six of the hobbled Mustangs ended up in the Top 10.

Shane van Gisbergen finished up 11th, followed by Simona de Silvestro, who was the best Nissan in 12th.

First practice results:

Cla	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	53.4430
2	Chaz Mostert	Ford Mustang GT	53.4676	0.0246
3	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	53.4781	0.0351
4	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Mustang GT	53.5565	0.1135
5	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	53.6152	0.1722
6	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	53.6295	0.1865
7	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	53.7257	0.2827
8	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Mustang GT	53.7432	0.3002
9	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	53.7648	0.3218
10	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	53.7977	0.3547
11	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	53.8015	0.3585
12	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima L33	53.8481	0.4051
13	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	53.9562	0.5132
14	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	53.9620	0.5190
15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima L33	53.9926	0.5496
16	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	53.9951	0.5521
17	Garry Jacobson	Nissan Altima L33	54.0273	0.5843
18	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	54.0895	0.6465
19	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	54.1170	0.6740
20	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima L33	54.1885	0.7455
21	Richie Stanaway	Holden Commodore ZB	54.2645	0.8215
22	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	54.3019	0.8589
23	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	54.4072	0.9642
24	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	54.4184	0.9754
25	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	54.4443	1.0013
View full results