Sandown 500: Whincup fastest in morning warm-up
Jamie Whincup led a trio of Triple Eight-built Holdens to top the final pre-race running ahead of the Sandown 500.
Photo by: Dirk Klynsmith / Motorsport Images
Teams spent most of the 20-minute hit-out focussing on driver changes and pitstop practice, in preparation for this afternoon's opening 500-kay enduro of the season.
There were still some signs of lap speed though, pre-race favourite Jamie Whincup going quickest with a 1m08.408s early in the session before handing over to co-driver Paul Dumbrell.
The sister Triple Eight cars were quick as well, the trio occupying the top three spots for much of the session thanks to Steve Richards in the #888 and Shane van Gisbergen in the #97.
Tekno driver Jack Le Brocq made it four Triple Eight-built cars in the top four with a 1m08.797s with five minutes to go, only for Scott McLaughlin to spoil the T8 party with a 1m08.833s to slot into fourth ahead of van Gisbergen a couple of minutes later.
While still four-tenths off Whincup, McLaughlin was at least pleased with how the car worked on full tanks.
"That was a lot better, on full tanks it feels good across the run," said the Kiwi, who along with co-driver Alex Premat will start today's race from third.
"It was a shorter run than we’ll do, but we’ve made some good improvements.
“We’ve tried all weekend to be amongst [the Holdens] down the chute, but obviously they’re pretty quick in a straightline. We’ve tried to combat that while having a good car in the corners.
“We’ll see how we go today.”
Chaz Mostert was best of the Tickford Fords in sixth, followed by James Courtney and Will Davison.
A pair of Brad Jones Racing Holdens rounded out the Top 10, Nick Percat ninth quickest followed by Tim Blanchard.
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Jamie Whincup Paul Dumbrell |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.4080 | |
2 | 888 | Steven Richards Craig Lowndes |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.7958 | 0.3878 |
3 | 19 | Jonathon Webb Jack Le Brocq |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.7976 | 0.3896 |
4 | 17 | Alexandre Prémat Scott McLaughlin |
Ford Falcon FG X | 1'08.8335 | 0.4255 |
5 | 97 | Earl Bamber Shane van Gisbergen |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.8510 | 0.4430 |
6 | 55 | Chaz Mostert James Moffat |
Ford Falcon FG X | 1'08.8584 | 0.4504 |
7 | 25 | James Courtney Jack Perkins |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.8807 | 0.4727 |
8 | 230 | Alex Davison Will Davison |
Ford Falcon FG X | 1'08.9668 | 0.5588 |
9 | 8 | Nick Percat Macauley Jones |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'09.0167 | 0.6087 |
10 | 21 | Dale Wood Tim Blanchard |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'09.0534 | 0.6454 |
11 | 9 | David Reynolds Luke Youlden |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'09.0895 | 0.6815 |
12 | 23 | Michael Caruso Dean Fiore |
Nissan Altima | 1'09.0933 | 0.6853 |
13 | 33 | Garth Tander Chris Pither |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'09.1099 | 0.7019 |
14 | 18 | Lee Holdsworth Jason Bright |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'09.1281 | 0.7201 |
15 | 2 | Warren Luff Scott Pye |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'09.1440 | 0.7360 |
16 | 12 | Tony D'Alberto Fabian Coulthard |
Ford Falcon FG X | 1'09.1680 | 0.7600 |
17 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom Dean Canto |
Ford Falcon FG X | 1'09.2212 | 0.8132 |
18 | 6 | David Russell Cameron Waters |
Ford Falcon FG X | 1'09.2975 | 0.8895 |
19 | 34 | James Golding Richard Muscat |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'09.3316 | 0.9236 |
20 | 14 | Tim Slade Ash Walsh |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'09.4559 | 1.0479 |
21 | 78 | Simona de Silvestro Alex Rullo |
Nissan Altima | 1'09.4606 | 1.0526 |
22 | 15 | Rick Kelly Garry Jacobson |
Nissan Altima | 1'09.5194 | 1.1114 |
23 | 99 | Will Brown Anton de |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'09.5588 | 1.1508 |
24 | 56 | Richie Stanaway Steven Owen |
Ford Falcon FG X | 1'09.5779 | 1.1699 |
25 | 7 | Andre Heimgartner Aaren Russell |
Nissan Altima | 1'09.5985 | 1.1905 |
26 | 35 | Bryce Fullwood Todd Hazelwood |
Ford Falcon FG X | 1'09.7138 | 1.3058 |
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