Sydney Supercars: McLaughlin ends Friday on top

Despite the usual flurry of times right at the end as everyone switched to fresh rubber, McLaughlin’s session-topping time actually came before the half-way mark. The Volvo GRM driver put in a 1m29.777s early, the time holding on to leave him 0.04s clear of Triple Eight’s Shane van Gisbergen, who improved just inside the last 10 minutes.

Mark Winterbottom came out of an up-and-down day in reasonable shape, going third fastest, albeit just 0.05s shy of McLaughlin. Practice 1 pacesetter Chaz Mostert effectively matched his team-mate, grabbing fourth with a time just 0.0001s slower than Winterbottom’s.

DJR Team Penske’s Fabian Coulthard was one of the late movers in the session, jumping to P11 on his penultimate lap, before improving to fifth on his final run.

James Courtney was the best of the Holden Racing Team Commodores in sixth, ahead of Nissan’s Michael Caruso, and Triple Eight pair Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup.

Tim Slade rounded out the Top 10 in what was an incredibly tight session, Jason Bright less than a second of the pace way down in 21st.

Rick Kelly, who finished the first session near the front of the field, the session barely lasted a couple of minutes. The Nissan driver found himself gently resting against the wall at Turn 3 after going off with a stuck throttle. The incident sparked a red flag period, Kelly not making it back out.

Rookie Shae Davies, meanwhile, finished his first day as a Supercars driver with the 25th fastest time, 1.8s off P1 and six-tenths behind Dale Wood in 24th.