Whincup tops Prac 4, McLaughlin misses top 10

Jamie Whincup has finished fastest in Practice 4 at the Perth SuperSprint but Scott McLaughlin will have to start the first part of Qualifying for Race 11 later this morning.

The Red Bull Holden Racing Team driver leapt up from very last to the top of the timesheets in the second-last of 20 minutes with a time of 0:55.2686s on new tyres.

McLaughlin, on the other hand, was running around on somewhat used tyres for his final run but couldn’t improve enough to stay in the top 10 and finished 12th in the #17 Shell V-Power Falcon.

“We didn’t run greens,” confirmed the Race 11 winner.

“I don’t know whether other people did or not. Maybe we got caught out by that.

“I had a fair bit of push there too. I’m confident we can come through in the three runs, but I think we just missed the boat there.”

McLaughlin’s DJR Team Penske team-mate Fabian Coulthard fared even worse in 21st position, nearly 0.7s off the pace.

Chaz Mostert ended up just 0.0429s off top spot in the Supercheap Auto Racing Falcon, while Practice 3 fast man Will Davison was just over a hundredth of a second slower again in the Tickford-built Milwaukee Racing Falcon.

The next three of Shane van Gisbergen (Triple Eight Commodore) and Brad Jones Racing’s Nick Percat (Coregas Commodore) and Tim Slade (Freightliner Commodore) were also within 0.1s of Whincup’s best.

David Reynolds was seventh-fastest in the Erebus Penrite Commodore from two Nissans in the form of Rick Kelly (Castrol Racing Altima) and Andre Heimgartner (Plus Fitness Altima).

Their team-mate Michael Caruso (Drive Altima) just missed the cut with a time 0.0525s slower than rookie James Golding’s (Wilson Security GRM Commodore) fastest.

Other notables outside the top 10 were Craig Lowndes (Autobarn Commodore) in 17th, Race 11 runner-up Mark Winterbottom (The Bottle-O Falcon) in 19th, and the two Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Commodores bringing up the rear (25th James Courtney, 26th Scott Pye).

The session began with all but Todd Hazelwood (Bigmate Falcon) and Tim Blanchard (Cooldrive Commodore) on wets after earlier rain.

They were first and second respectively before the rest of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship field bolted on slicks for their respective second runs, when lap times began to tumble.

Rain, however, could return later in the day.

Armor All Qualifying for Race 12 starts from 1120 local time/1320 AEST.

Results: Practice 4