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Australia

Symmons Plains Supercars: Whincup tops first practice

Jamie Whincup put on a record-breaking show to top the opening practice session inTasmania.

Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

Triple Eight Race Engineering

The Red Bull Holden driver was mired in the midfield until he bolted on a new set of super soft tyres with a few minutes to go. He jumped straight to the top with a 51.18s, before improving to a 50.94s on his second lap, a new unofficial lap record.

DJR Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin and Whincup’s RBHRT teammate Shane van Gisbergen both grabbed new boots and went for late improvements as well, the pair slotting into second and third respectively. Mclaughlin even made a gain on his second lap, which came right on the flag, but still fell 0.14s short of Whincup.

Van Gisbergen, meanwhile, was another tenth back from McLaughlin, with HSV Racing driver Scott Pye slotting into fourth with a green tyre run of his own.

That late movement shuffled Fabian Coulthard, who had been quickest with 10 minutes to run, back to fifth, ahead of Chaz Mostert – who survived a big sideways moment at the last corner – and Will Davison.

Lee Holdsworth was eighth quickest, a decent turnaround after missing most of the Australian GP weekend following that nasty tangle with Nick Percat, while Mark Winterbottom and Tim Slade rounded out the Top 10.

It was a tough session for the factory Nissan squad, Todd Kelly the best-placed Altima down in 14th.

Craig Lowndes struggled too, the Triple Eight driver just 22nd fastest after battling a power steering leak.

ClaDriverCarTimeGap
1 88 australia  Jamie Whincup  Holden Commodore VF 50.9455  
2 17 new_zealand  Scott McLaughlin  Ford Falcon FG-X 51.0883 0.1428
3 97 new_zealand  Shane van Gisbergen  Holden Commodore VF 51.2017 0.2562
4 2 australia  Scott Pye  Holden Commodore VF 51.3238 0.3783
5 12 new_zealand  Fabian Coulthard  Ford Falcon FG-X 51.3901 0.4446
6 55 australia  Chaz Mostert  Ford Falcon FG-X 51.4040 0.4585
7 19 australia  Will Davison  Holden Commodore VF 51.5085 0.5630
8 18 australia  Lee Holdsworth  Holden Commodore VF 51.5152 0.5697
9 5 australia  Mark Winterbottom  Ford Falcon FG-X 51.5475 0.6020
10 14 australia  Tim Slade  Holden Commodore VF 51.6596 0.7141
11 8 australia  Nick Percat  Holden Commodore VF 51.6663 0.7208
12 56 australia  Jason Bright  Ford Falcon FG-X 51.7188 0.7733
13 34 australia  James Moffat  Holden Commodore VF 51.7361 0.7906
14 7 australia  Todd Kelly  Nissan Altima 51.7816 0.8361
15 99 australia  Dale Wood  Holden Commodore VF 51.7894 0.8439
16 15 australia  Rick Kelly  Nissan Altima 51.7901 0.8446
17 33 australia  Garth Tander  Holden Commodore VF 51.8200 0.8745
18 23 australia  Michael Caruso  Nissan Altima 51.8973 0.9518
19 6 australia  Cameron Waters  Ford Falcon FG-X 51.9558 1.0103
20 9 australia  David Reynolds  Holden Commodore VF 52.1246 1.1791
21 22 australia  James Courtney  Holden Commodore VF 52.2804 1.3349
22 888 australia  Craig Lowndes  Holden Commodore VF 52.2866 1.3411
23 3 australia  Taz Douglas  Holden Commodore VF 52.3298 1.3843
24 78 switzerland  Simona de Silvestro  Nissan Altima 52.5368 1.5913
25 62 australia  Alex Rullo  Holden Commodore VF 52.8862 1.9407
26 21 australia  Tim Blanchard  Holden Commodore VF 53.0955 2.1500

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Edition

Australia