A last gasp flying lap from Scott McLaughlin saw the Supercars Championship leader claim top spot in second practice at the Red Rooster Sydney Super Sprint.
The DJR Team Penske driver spent the first half of the session focusing on race preparation before moving to qualifying set up for the final moments of the 45 minute session, which was once again affected by high winds.
McLaughlin quickly climbed to fourth as practice reached the final 10 minutes before going on to post an impressive 1:28.85s effort to top the times.
The effort proved 0.15s faster than Mark Winterbottom who was among a group of drivers to improve late in the running.
The 2015 Supercars champion edged Prodrive team-mates Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters as Ford filled the top four positions.
Practice 1 pacesetter Michael Caruso finished fifth in the #23 Nissan Motorsport Altima ahead of the top Holden in Craig Lowndes.
Brad Jones Racing’s Tim Slade slid down to seventh after moving to the top of the times just prior to a flurry of fast times.
Fabian Coulthard also briefly enjoyed top spot in the #12 DJR Team Penske Falcon but ultimately ended up eighth.
The top 10 was rounded out by Jamie Whincup (Red Bull Holden) and Rick Kelly (Nissan Motorsport).
After suffering a driveline issue in opening practice, Todd Kelly (Nissan Motorsport) ended up 11th ahead of Will Davison (Tekno Autosports), who fitted a new steering rack for the session.
Shane van Gisbergen was 13th ahead of David Reynolds (Erebus Motorsport) and Nick Percat, who was fastest up until the final 10 minutes of the session.
Results: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Red Rooster Sydney Super Sprint Practice 2
| 1 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:28.8500 | |
| 2 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:29.0065 | 00.1565 |
| 3 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:29.0393 | 00.1893 |
| 4 | Monster Energy Racing | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:29.2395 | 00.3895 |
| 5 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1:29.3544 | 00.5044 |
| 6 | TeamVortex | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.4231 | 00.5731 |
| 7 | Freightliner Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.5022 | 00.6522 |
| 8 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:29.5478 | 00.6978 |
| 9 | Red Bull Holden Racing Aust | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.5878 | 00.7378 |
| 10 | Sengled Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:29.6114 | 00.7614 |
| 11 | carsales Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:29.6160 | 00.7660 |
| 12 | TEKNO Woodstock Racing | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.6406 | 00.7906 |
| 13 | Red Bull Holden Racing Aust | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.7442 | 00.8942 |
| 14 | Erebus Penrite Racing | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.7966 | 00.9466 |
| 15 | ACDelco Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.8573 | 01.0073 |
| 16 | Mobil 1 HSV Racing | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.8800 | 01.0300 |
| 17 | Preston Hire Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.8817 | 01.0317 |
| 18 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.8950 | 01.0450 |
| 19 | Mobil 1 HSV Racing | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.9398 | 01.0898 |
| 20 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | James Moffat | Holden Commodore VF | 1:30.0901 | 01.2401 |
| 21 | Team CoolDrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:30.3785 | 01.5285 |
| 22 | Team Harvey Norman | Simona De Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 1:30.3805 | 01.5305 |
| 23 | MEGA Racing | Jason Bright | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:30.5817 | 01.7317 |
| 24 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Alex Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 1:30.6786 | 01.8286 |
| 25 | Erebus GB Galvanizing Racing | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 1:30.8807 | 02.0307 |
| 26 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Alex Rullo | Holden Commodore VF | 1:30.9427 | 02.0927 |
Discussion about this post