Albert Park V8s: Winterbottom tops second practice

A final five minute happy hour saw times tumble dramatically as new rubber came into play, Prodrive’s Winterbottom getting the best of it in the closing seconds of the half-hour session.

The 2015 Champion decimated the field with his final flyer, knocking two seconds off the time that had him sitting top midway through the session to bag P1 with a 1m56.682s.

The time left him 0.4s clear of Red Bull’s Shane van Gisbergen, who for the second time today was trumped right at the end.

Chaz Mostert, who was comfortably fastest in the afternoon’s first session, was third quickest, half a second off his team-mate Winterbottom.

Rick Kelly was fourth for Nissan, while Cam Waters capped off an excellent session for PRA with the fifth quickest time.

Fabian Coulthard, David Reynolds, Jason Bright, James Courtney, and Jamie Whincup rounded out the top 10 – Whincup slipping all the way down from P3 inside the last 120 seconds of the session.

Some surprising omissions from the top 10 included Craig Lowndes (P11), Scott McLaughlin (P12), and Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander (P25).

New Tekno driver Will Davison, meanwhile, hit the wall hard right at the end but was able to get back to pit-lane, finishing the session down in 14th.