Van Gisbergen tops Practice 2 at Newcastle 500

Shane van Gisbergen has topped Practice 2 at the Thrifty Newcastle 500 as he continued to test the limits of his new Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro Supercar.

The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver had something of a ragged session in Car #97 but still came out on top with a 1:11.7555s, pipping the Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Will Davison by just 0.0374s.

Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) made it two Triple Eight Race Engineering entries in the top three, from Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) and Practice 1 fast man Andre Heimgartner.

The Brad Jones Racing pilot had set the pace in the earlier session on a 1:11.9958s after bolting on new tyres, but he was immediately faster in Practice 2 in clocking a 1:11.9836s in the #8 R&J Batteries Camaro.

Meanwhile, others were already rolling back into pit lane so that their crews could undertake pit stop practice, a task which includes getting accustomed with the new fuel coupling, new spike location, and new wheel nuts.

Davison was next to enjoy a spell on top of the timing screen when he set a 1:11.7929s in the #17 Dick Johnson Racing Mustang in the 19th minute, before Heimgartner came close to improving with a 1:12.0719s and then Feeney slotted into second on a 1:11.8722s.

Van Gisbergen was in the action when he ran long at Cops (Turn 2) in the opening minutes of the session, and later had to catch the #97 Camaro at the Turn 11 hairpin as he played with brake bias.

While the champion does not have all of the old tools at his disposal in a Gen3 car, he was back in a familiar position when he went top with a 1:11.7555s just prior to the half-hour mark.

Van Gisbergen had another minor mishap in the final minutes of the session when he ran long at the first corner of the Newcastle East Street Circuit, but would remain on top of the timing screen.

Mostert, who had earlier been delayed in the WAU garage when his crew encountered difficulty fitting a cold rim to a hot spindle, was on a fast one as the chequered flag came out but traffic down at the hairpin put paid to any chance of him improving.

The top five was thus van Gisbergen, Davison, Feeney on a 1:11.8722s, Mostert on a 1:11.9066s, and Heimgartner, with the top 10 rounded out by Team 18 duo Scott Pye (#20 Hino Camaro) and Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro), then Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang), Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang), and James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang).

Todd Hazelwood (#3 CoolDrive Mustang) ended up 18th after a session which included contact with Cameron Hill (#35 Truck Assist Camaro) in his old entry at Turn 11, while the new Matt Stone Racing driver ended up 25th.

Practice 3, another 45-minute session, starts at 15:50 local time/AEDT.

Results: Practice 2