McLaughlin edges Davison again in Practice 2 at QR

Scott McLaughlin and Will Davison have finished first and second respectively for the second Supercars Championship practice session in a row at the Century Batteries Ipswich SuperSprint.

McLaughlin found almost four tenths of a second relative to the benchmark which he set in Practice 1 earlier in the day by taking his #17 Shell V-Power Mustang to a 1:08.8277s on new tyres.

Davison was the only other man in the 1:08s bracket in the half-hour hit-out at 0.1145s off the pace in the #23 Milwaukee Mustang.

Both DJR Team Penske entries, both Triple Eight Racing Engineering entries, both Erebus Motorsport entries, and three of the four Tickford/23Red entries made the top 10 which sets the starting order for knockout Armor All Qualifying for Race 19 tomorrow at Queensland Raceway.

McLaughlin was the pace-setter for the majority of proceedings and even clocked a 1:08.9888s on practice tyres on his penultimate run.

Davison briefly bettered that, but he needed new tyres to do so, and was again ultimately just over a tenth of a second away from McLaughlin but better than everyone else.

McLaughlin and engineer/DJRTP technical guru Ludo Lacroix were nevertheless somewhat disappointed given that the Kiwi did not maximise his pace.

“He’s angry at me,” said McLaughlin of Lacroix.

“That’s the reason why this team is so good, and we go well is because we’ve got a guy like that who wants better and more and more and more.

“Sounds like I got to go to the office and have a big think about it.

“It’s overall feeling really nice. Obviously parc ferme tomorrow after quali, so you’ve got to think about that for the race.

“We’re working on having a fast car, but hopefully looking after those rear tyres, so we’ll see how we go.”

Chaz Mostert consolidated his place in the top 10 with a 1:09.0438s after the chequered flag which put the #55 Supercheap Auto Mustang third, while Matt Stone Racing’s Todd Hazelwood (#35 ZB Commodore) was best of those in Triple Eight-built cars in fourth.

Triple Eight’s own Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull HRT ZB Commodore) was fifth at 0.3351s off the pace and 0.0062s slower than Hazelwood, with Anton De Pasquale (#99 Penrite ZB Commodore) sixth.

Fabian Coulthard (#12 DJR Team Penske Mustang) and Jamie Whincup (#88 Triple Eight ZB Commodore) were vulnerable to having to go into Part 1 of Armor All Qualifying before they moved themselves up to seventh and eighth respectively.

David Reynolds (#9 ZB Commodore) was ninth in the second of the Erebus cars and Lee Holdsworth (#5 The Bottle-O Mustang) 10th.

Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) missed the cut due to Hazelwood’s efforts, while Andre Heimgartner (#7 Plus Fitness Altima) took top Kelly Racing/Nissan honours off Garry Jacobson (#3 Rabble.Club Altima) by going from 13th to 12th after the chequered flag.

Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Practice 3 starts tomorrow at 1035 local time/AEST before Armor All Qualifying at 1325.

Results: Practice 2