Perth Supercars: McLaughlin lowers record in final practice
Scott McLaughlin lowered the practice lap record en route to topping the final pre-qualifying session at Barbagallo Raceway, while all three Triple Eight drivers struggled to set a time.
Photo by: Daniel Kalisz / Motorsport Images
McLaughlin put the DJR Team Penske Falcon on top during the final qualifying preparations at the end of the 45-minute practice session, a 54.689s lap lowering the new practice lap record set by Shane van Gisbergen yesterday.
“I had a big slide at Turn 4, but the car was awesome,” said McLaughlin. “The car was a lot better than yesterday, and we got our phasing right with the new tyre. We’ve got two strong cars heading into qualifying, that’s for sure.”
Prodrive Racing Australia pair Mark Winterbottom and Cameron Waters were second and third, Winterbottom recovering from a broken rear suspension component after a race simulation run to slot in behind McLaughlin right at the end.
Fabian Coulthard capped off a great session for DJRTP, with Chaz Mostert surviving a frightening moment with Jamie Whincup in the closing moments to go fifth quickest. The close call happened on the back straight, Whincup forced to take evasive action after catching Mostert and James Moffat warming their tyres.
Mostert went straight to the Triple Eight garage to clarify the situation with Whincup.
“It’s so hard watching the car in front of you weaving, and then trying to start a lap as well,” explained Mostert. “You can’t look in your mirrors and ahead of you as well. I got chocked up with another car in front, and I didn’t even see Jamie coming that quick because I was trying to focus on what’s going on in front of me.”
The squabble contributed to Whincup finishing way down in 25th, and came after his best time – a 55.171s, which would have been good enough for P5 – was disallowed for a track limits infringement.
Whincup was the worst of the Triple Eight drivers, but not by much. Craig Lowndes was only one spot ahead after focussing on an incredibly long race simulation, while Shane van Gisbergen had an off at the left-hander on his qualifying sim and finished up 22nd.
Tim Slade was the real hard luck story of the session, his Brad Jones Racing crew faced with a race against time to fit a fresh engine before qualifying after a failure seven minutes into the final practice.
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 17 | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG-X | 54.6893 | |
2 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG-X | 54.7923 | 0.1030 |
3 | 6 | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG-X | 54.9430 | 0.2537 |
4 | 12 | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG-X | 55.0431 | 0.3538 |
5 | 55 | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG-X | 55.2861 | 0.5968 |
6 | 22 | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 55.3002 | 0.6109 |
7 | 56 | Jason Bright | Ford Falcon FG-X | 55.3312 | 0.6419 |
8 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 55.3344 | 0.6451 |
9 | 18 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 55.3675 | 0.6782 |
10 | 33 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 55.3874 | 0.6981 |
11 | 2 | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore VF | 55.4597 | 0.7704 |
12 | 21 | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 55.5519 | 0.8626 |
13 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 55.6673 | 0.9780 |
14 | 34 | James Moffat | Holden Commodore VF | 55.7318 | 1.0425 |
15 | 23 | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 55.7780 | 1.0887 |
16 | 19 | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 55.8221 | 1.1328 |
17 | 9 | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VF | 55.9002 | 1.2109 |
18 | 99 | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 56.1215 | 1.4322 |
19 | 62 | Alex Rullo | Holden Commodore VF | 56.3078 | 1.6185 |
20 | 78 | Simona de Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 56.3639 | 1.6746 |
21 | 8 | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 56.4443 | 1.7550 |
22 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 56.4596 | 1.7703 |
23 | 3 | Matt Brabham | Holden Commodore VF | 56.9438 | 2.2545 |
24 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 57.0609 | 2.3716 |
25 | 88 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 57.2328 | 2.5435 |
26 | 14 | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 58.1070 | 3.4177 |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments