Lowndes fastest at end of opening day in Austin

Craig Lowndes has ended practice for the Austin 400 on top of the time sheets following a late flurry of fast times in the fourth and final session of the day.

The Red Bull Racing Australia pilot had been just 10th, 12th and 13th in the first three hit-outs as he joined much of the field in starting the day on wet tyres while learning the circuit.

Not happy with the balance of the #888 Holden on his first set of slicks, Lowndes decided to complete a single hot lap on a second new set in Practice 4; jumping to the head of the pack by a full 1.3s with just six minutes remaining.

A host of other drivers also moved to a second set of slicks late in the going, with the top 10 each setting their fastest times on their final run of the day.

Will Davison went closest to Lowndes’ benchmark in the closing minutes, falling 0.34s short of his Holden rival’s 1:32.90s effort to be second fastest in his Pepsi Max FPR Falcon.

Jonathon Webb, Chaz Mostert, James Courtney, Tony D’Alberto, Alex Davison, Tim Slade and Shane Van Gisbergen completed the top 10.

Van Gisbergen had earlier edged Fabian Coulthard to the fastest time with a late effort in Practice 3.

Morning pace-setter Scott McLaughlin and team-mate Alexandre Premat ran one-two with 10 minutes to go in Practice 4 but fell to 16th and 18th respectively.

The Fujitsu GRM outfit had been among the most frugal with their slick tyre allocation across the day. McLaughlin ran just two laps on slicks prior to the final hit-out, while Premat did not see the dry rubber at all until the second half of Practice 4.

Saturday’s V8 Supercars action at the Circuit of the Americas will see two qualifying sessions ahead of Races 13 and 14 of the championship.

See below for the full Practice 4 result

See below for the full Practice 3 result