Perth Supercars: McLaughlin lowers record in final practice

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