Whincup edges Kelly in tight Darwin practice

Jamie Whincup beat Rick Kelly to the fastest time in a second practice session that saw the top five cars separated by less than a tenth of a second.

Erebus Motorsport’s David Reynolds sat atop the order for 40 minutes before a final flurry of fast times on new soft tyres.

Whincup was the first to displace Reynolds, recording 1:06.62s to move 0.2s clear of the Penrite Commodore.

Red Bull team-mate Shane van Gisbergen moved to second before being displaced by Rick Kelly, who fell just 0.0077s short of a double having topped Practice 1.

Scott McLaughlin wound up fourth ahead of Scott Pye, who was left to lament a fumbled gear change on his lap that proved just 0.07s shy of Whincup.

Team-mate Fabian Coulthard was sixth despite missing the first 35 minutes of the session while DJR Team Penske completed an engine change on the #12 Ford.

The Kiwi had battled a misfire in the opening session which the team had failed to rectify.

James Moffat, Dale Wood, Chaz Mostert and Mark Winterbottom completed the top 10, with Reynolds falling to 12th.

Erebus team-mate Aaren Russell crashed out of the session just prior to the halfway mark, making right-front contact with the tyre wall after running off at Turn 10.

The rookie was able to drive his Plus Fitness Holden back to pitlane but took no further part in the session.

“I just lost the rear real early in the corner, it took me wide and from there I was a passenger,” explained Russell.

“These things happen, you’ve just got to have faith in the crew that they’ll fix it.

“It’s a shame we’ve lost the session, obviously Dave’s doing well and we’d only been on one set of softs all weekend.”

Like in Practice 1, the session ran green for its duration despite a host of drivers spearing off under brakes at Turns 1 and 5.

A final 15 minute practice session will take place tomorrow morning.

Result: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown Practice 2