Prodrive trumps T8 in Symmons practice

Mark Winterbottom led young team-mate Cameron Waters to a Prodrive one-two in Friday practice for the Tyrepower Super Sprint at Symmons Plains.

The Ford duo shaded Triple Eight trio Jamie Whincup, Shane van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes in the dying seconds of the day’s second 60 minute hit-out.

Prodrive’s Chaz Mostert led the bulk of the first half of the session as teams continued set-up work on their practice tyres.

Rick Kelly broke the deadlock by moving to P1 at the halfway mark, before Lowndes took over the front-running with 20 minutes remaining.

Whincup then jumped to the front when the green tyres came out across the field in the final minutes, with his 51.49s effort looking enough to fend off all comers.

Winterbottom, however, had other ideas and after breifly going second by 0.01s, the reigning champion edged 0.08s ahead of Whincup with his final lap.

Waters fell just 0.05s short of his team-mate for second in a session that saw the top five separated by 0.1s.

“The car was really good,” said Winterbottom.

“I was a little bit of a lone ranger on my new tyres by myself, I didn’t get a tow down the straights.

“But it was just nice to get on with it and have a car that is reacting to changes and pretty comfortable.

“You only have to be half a tenth better than the next guy on such a tight track and you look like a hero.

“It’s going to be tough to find that next little bit but today was a pretty good day.”

Lee Holdsworth’s encouraging day continued with sixth ahead of James Courtney, Scott Pye, Will Davison and Jason Bright.

Pye’s time came after the DJR Team Penske Ford spent almost the entire day on hard tyres, switching to the quicker rubber for just two brief spells in the closing stages of Practice 2.

Team-mate Fabian Coulthard ended up 23rd after the timing of a major late set-up change prevented a final flying lap on new tyres.

A third and final practice session will take place tomorrow morning ahead of qualifying.

Result: V8 Supercars Tyrepower Tasmania Super Sprint Practice 2