Newcastle Supercars: McLaughlin blitzes second practice

It was all about the Red Bulls in the first 10 minutes of the session, Jamie Whincup setting the early pace before Shane van Gisbergen took over at the top with a 1m10.598s.

On the 12-minute mark McLaughlin enjoyed his first stint at the top, a 1m10.507s coming just a lap after the Penske driver misjudged Turn 2 and ended down the escape road.

It was a short-lived stint though, Whincup responding immediately with a 1m10.446s.

Times tumbled down to the low 1m10s as the session headed towards the halfway mark, Nick Percat leading the way with a 1m10.301s before being replace by Scott Pye's 1m10.1047s to go under Whincup's Practice 1 benchmark for the first time.

Right after the 20-minute mark McLaughlin took another step forward, breaking into the 1m09s with a two-lap stint that left him top with a 1m09.841s.

He wound up being the only driver to go under 1m10s. Whincup went closest with a 1m10.029s late in the session, but nobody could get close to McLaughlin – particularly when he improved to a 1m09.594s right at the death.

That left him 0.4s clear of title rival Whincup.

"Look, it's Friday... I wish it was Saturday!" said McLaughlin.

"The car is really nice. It wasn't bad in the first practice, but it wasn't anywhere like it is now."

Todd Kelly, celebrating his final start as a full time Supercars driver this weekend, ended up third quickest with a 1m10.083s, edging out Scott Pye, who carried over his promising form from Practice 1.

Fabian Coulthard was fifth fastest ahead of Tim Slade and David Reynolds, while Garth Tander, Percat, and James Courtney rounded out the Top 10.

It was a tough session for Prodrive, Cam Waters the best performer down in 13th.

That was one spot clear of Shane van Gisbergen, who complained that something may be broken in his Triple Eight Commodore after struggling for pace.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'09.5949
2	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.0294	0.4345
3	7	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'10.0835	0.4886
4	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.1047	0.5098
5	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	1'10.1297	0.5348
6	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.1772	0.5823
7	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.2870	0.6921
8	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.2886	0.6937
9	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.3011	0.7062
10	22	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.3073	0.7124
11	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'10.3365	0.7416
12	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1'10.3681	0.7732
13	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'10.3700	0.7751
14	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.4238	0.8289
15	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.4532	0.8583
16	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'10.5000	0.9051
17	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.6527	1.0578
18	34	James Moffat	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.7324	1.1375
19	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'10.7748	1.1799
20	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1'10.7918	1.1969
21	19	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.7972	1.2023
22	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.8276	1.2327
23	56	Jason Bright	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'10.9670	1.3721
24	3	Aaren Russell	Holden Commodore VF	1'11.0648	1.4699
25	99	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	1'11.2685	1.6736
26	62	Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	1'11.3783	1.7834