Waters beats McLaughlin by thousandths in Practice 2

Cameron Waters has gone fastest in Practice 2 at the Robson Civil Projects Townsville SuperSprint by a margin of 0.0029s over Scott McLaughlin.

McLaughlin held sway for much of the half-hour session and drove the #17 Shell V-Power Mustang to a 1:12.3421s in the final minutes.

The championship leader was knocked off top spot after the chequered flag when Waters set his 1:12.3392s in Tickford Racing’s #6 Monster Energy Mustang, beating James Courtney’s Practice 1 benchmark by almost three tenths.

Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert finished third at 0.1216s off the pace, ahead of Courtney (#44 Boost Mobile Mustang) and the Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s Jamie Whincup.

The latter was quickest after the first runs with a 1:12.5045s in the #88 ZB Commodore before McLaughlin, on new tyres, clocked a 1:12.4512s.

While only 0.0533s separated those two title combatants at the time, Mostert managed to split them when he put in a 1:12.4899s in the #25 Mobil 1 Appliances Online ZB Commodore.

As was the case in the previous hit-out, the order settled before being shaken up again in the final runs.

Mostert improved to a 1:12.4608s in the last minute, not long after McLaughlin’s final run, before Courtney jumped to third with a 1:12.4772s.

That meant that Whincup, whose first flyer was still his fastest, was shuffled back to fifth, from Lee Holdsworth (#5 Truck Assist Mustang), Nick Percat (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore), and Bryce Fullwood (#2 Mobil 1 Middy’s ZB Commodore).

Shane van Gisbergen (Red Bull HRT) ended up ninth with a best time of 1:12.6694s, following another wild moment when he had to catch a big wiggle in the #97 ZB Commodore through Turn 10 in the early stages.

Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore) rounded out the top 10, while Penrite Racing entries of Anton De Pasquale (#99 ZB Commodore) and David Reynolds (#9 ZB Commodore) were 15th and 17th respectively, with Fabian Coulthard (#12 Shell V-Power Mustang) splitting them.

Qualifying for Race 22 of the season, including a Top 10 Shootout, is scheduled to commence at 12:45 local time/AEST.

Results: Practice 2