Scott McLaughlin has wheeled his new Ford Mustang to a late fastest lap in Supercars Championship Practice 2 in Adelaide, denying Red Bull HRT a one-two.

McLaughlin sat third to a trio of Triple Eight-built ZB Commodores when the chequered flag was unfurled but took over first position with a 1:20.3906s in the first of the Shell V-Power Racing entries.

Almost nothing separated Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen in second and third respectively, while Scott Pye and Fabian Coulthard were late movers to fourth and fifth, bumping Mark Winterbottom to sixth.

McLaughlin had been on top with a 1:20.9707s with three minutes remaining in the half-hour session, before a succession of cars came out on new tyres.

Van Gisbergen usurped him with a 1:20.5454s in the #97 ZB Commodore before Whincup went 0.0039s faster in the sister #88 entry.

Winterbottom temporarily rose to third from the base of the top 10 in the Triple Eight-built Irwin Racing car, although his fastest lap was 0.5261s off the pace by the end of the session, behind Pye (Mobil 1 Mega ZB Commodore) and Coulthard (DJR Team Penske) in the second of the Mustangs.

Lee Holdsworth showed the way for Tickford Racing in seventh in the Bottle-O Mustang, from Todd Hazelwood (Matt Stone Racing ZB Commodore), Tim Slade (Freightliner ZB Commodore), and Cameron Waters (Monster Energy Mustang).

Slade had caused an early red flag when he ended up off the road and stuck in the kitty litter at Turn 11 in the #14 Brad Jones Racing entry.

James Courtney had a brush with the wall at the Sweeper (Turn 8) not long prior to that incident.

He was able to get back out and set a time good enough for 12th position after the Walkinshaw Andretti United crew threw another left-front steering arm at the #22 ZB Commodore.

The Penrite Racing ZB Commodores finished deep in the order with David Reynolds 15th and Practice 1 fast man Anton De Pasquale 23rd.

Simona De Silvestro was the leading Kelly Racing driver in 16th in her Harvey Norman Altima at 1.0573s off the pace, the first driver more than a second away from McLaughlin.

Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Practice 3 starts at 1450 local time/1520 AEDT.

Results: Practice 2