Van Gisbergen edges Heimgartner in Practice 2 at Tasmania

Shane van Gisbergen has gone fastest in Practice 2 for the Ned Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint by a margin of two hundredths of a second over Andre Heimgartner.

Van Gisbergen laid down a 0:50.4473s in his late-session qualifying simulation in the #97 Red Bull Ampol Racing entry, a tenth of a second away from Will Davison’s new practice lap record from earlier in the day when the weather was several degrees cooler at Symmons Plains.

Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) ended up fourth in Practice 2 for the Repco Supercars Championship field on a 0:50.6426s, behind Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore) in second and Todd Hazelwood (#35 Truck Assist ZB Commodore).

The Practice 1 fast man had been on top again after the initial flyers on a 0:51.1885s, but van Gisbergen (#97 ZB Commodore) held sway at the end of the first runs on a 0:50.6570s.

Davison had not long moved the benchmark to a 0:50.6426s when a red flag was called in the 11th minute due to Jake Kostecki stopping on the back straight with a suspected electrical problem in Tickford Racing’s #56 Tradie Mustang.

With the session underway again, Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist ZB Commodore) moved up to third with just under four minutes remaining, clocking a 0:50.8101s before the rest went for their qualifying simulations.

Le Brocq’s team-mate Hazelwood then reset the fastest lap with a 0:50.6395s, before Heimgartner clocked a 0:50.4675s and then van Gisbergen the 0:50.4473s in the last two minutes before the chequered flag.

Hazelwood improved again, to a 0:50.6055s, as Davison set a new fastest first sector but ultimately broke the beam in a time of 0:50.6681s, two hundredths shy of his personal-best.

David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang) ended up fifth, from Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang), Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore), Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore), championship leader Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus ZB Commodore), and Tim Slade (#3 CoolDrive Mustang) in 10th.

Nick Percat was 12th again in the #2 Mobil 1 NTI ZB Commodore while Tickford’s best was Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) in 14th.

Scott Pye had a wild moment in the early minutes when he drove his #20 Seiko 5 ZB Commodore into the infield at Turn 1 and ran through the gravel.

He got as high as seventh-fastest, just after the red flag, and ultimately ended up 20th on the timesheet.

Qualifying for Race 3, a three-part knockout session, is due to get underway at 13:50 local time/AEDT.

Results: Practice 2