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Australia
Practice report

Sandown 500: McLaughlin lowers lap record

Scott McLaughlin will head into qualifying for the Sandown 500 as the pacesetter, topping final practice with a record-breaking lap.

Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske Ford

Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske Ford

Dirk Klynsmith / Motorsport Images

The DJR Team Penske driver banked a 1m07.542s two-thirds of the way through the session, that time more than two-tenths under the new lap record set by David Reynolds on Friday.

McLaughlin then ran wide at Turn 9 on his final run, his spot at the top under threat as a number of drivers set purple sectors.

However nobody could run down McLaughlin's time, Whincup falling a measly 0.001s short after going purple in Sectors 1 and 2.

“The car is feeling really good. It’s been good really straight out of the truck,” said McLaughlin.

“It’s been a tough few weeks for the guys, so I just want to reward them in qualifying.”

Tickford pair Cam Waters and Lee Holdsworth were next, less than a tenth separating the top four, while Fabian Coulthard and Andre Heimgartner also dipped under the record.

Reynolds couldn't quite match his Friday time, the Erebus driver seventh with a 1m07.803s, followed by Will Davison, Chaz Mostert and Mark Winterbottom.

It was a tough session for Shane van Gisbergen, the Triple Eight driver running wide a Turn 9 on a green tyre run, which left him down in 18th.

"I made a mistake on my fast lap and went off and got the new cut system, but deserved it,” said the Kiwi.

“We’re better than we look but we’ll see how we go [in qualifying] this arvo.”

Cla # Driver Time Gap Interval
1 17 New Zealand Scott McLaughlin
France Alexandre Prémat
1'07.542
2 888 Australia Jamie Whincup
Australia Craig Lowndes
1'07.544 0.001 0.001
3 6 Australia Cameron Waters
Australia Michael Caruso
1'07.603 0.060 0.058
4 5 Australia Lee Holdsworth
Australia Thomas Randle
1'07.633 0.090 0.029
5 12 New Zealand Fabian Coulthard
Australia Tony D'Alberto
1'07.721 0.178 0.088
6 7 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner
Australia Bryce Fullwood
1'07.760 0.217 0.039
7 9 Australia David Reynolds
Australia Luke Youlden
1'07.803 0.260 0.042
8 23 Australia Will Davison
Australia Alex Davison
1'07.935 0.392 0.132
9 55 Australia Chaz Mostert
Australia James Moffat
1'07.953 0.410 0.017
10 18 Australia Mark Winterbottom
New Zealand Steven Richards
1'08.004 0.461 0.051

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Edition

Australia