Barbagallo V8s: McLaughlin puts Volvo on top in WA

The Kiwi first emerged at the top of the times 25 minutes into the hour-long session, rocketing to P1 with a 57.544s just as the drying track started to favour the soft tyre.

He then slipped down the order as the likes of Fabian Coulthard, Todd Kelly and Mark Winterbottom all enjoyed stints at the top of the timing screen, before McLaughlin charged back to P1 inside the last minute with a 56.421s.

“The car feels nice,” he said.

“We put the second set of tyres [on] there just to get a feel. They’re not amazing, but the car feels pretty good.

“Balance wise I’m happy. It’s been a tough week, that’s for sure.”

Chaz Mostert was second fastest, and like McLaughlin he set his time late. Mostert also had a brief period on top of the times mid-way through the session, before finding the best part of a second on his last run to take P2 ahead of Brad Jones Racing driver Tim Slade.

Mark Winterbottom wound up fourth fastest after spending almost all of the last 25 minutes of the session in P1. The reigning champion was first into the 56s, only slipped down to P4 in the last minute.

Fabian Coulthard was fifth quickest for Penske, ahead of Jason Bright and Shane van Gisbergen, who survived an early trip through the sand at Turn 7.

Jamie Whincup was eighth fastest, Scott Pye ninth, and Cameron Waters 10th – despite being just half a second slower than McLaughlin.

While a number of cars took trips through the deep sand traps around the tricky West Australian circuit, particularly in the early running when the track was wet, there was only one red flag. It came courtesy of David Reynolds, who bogged his Erebus Commodore at Turn 6 just eight minutes in.

“It was all my own fault, I was trying to be a hero,” he admitted. “It’s probably not an ideal scenario”