Pukekohe Supercars: McLaughlin edges T8 Holdens in opening practice
Scott McLaughlin edged a trio of Triple Eight Holdens in the opening Supercars practice session at Pukekohe.
Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics
The Penske driver went quickest just before the quarter-hour mark in the session, shading early pacesetter and title rival Shane van Gisbergen with a 1m03.176s.
He then almost improved on at the midway point, going purple in the first sector before falling 0.003s short of his own benchmark.
While that earlier time would have been good enough for top spot anyway, McLaughlin did finally go quicker, ending up on a 1m03.115s.
"It was a really good session for us, we got through a lot," said McLaughlin.
"We'll just have a think about a few things, we've got a couple of little things to work on for the car and also myself . I'm a little slower in Turns 1, 2, 3, 4 than I wanted to be.
"We'll try and look at that driving-wise and come out stronger."
Craig Lowndes led the trio of Triple Eight cars behind McLaughlin, the veteran improving on his final run to close to within 0.08s of the Penske Ford.
That relegated van Gisbergen to third, the Kiwi not improving on his early time, while Jamie Whincup improved with five minutes to go to slot into fourth, just over a tenth off the pace.
Fabian Coulthard was fifth quickest, followed by Lee Holdsworth, Nick Percat, and Michael Caruso – the top eight all within two-tenths of the pace.
Scott Pye and Rick Kelly rounded out the Top 10.
While there were no crashes during the 40-minute hit-out, there were some wild spins. James Courtney took a high-speed tip across the grass after running wide at Turn 1, while Richie Stanaway found himself bouncing over the Turn 6 kerbs facing the wrong way.
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 17 | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG X | 1'03.1150 | |
2 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.1980 | 0.0830 |
3 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.2271 | 0.1121 |
4 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.2371 | 0.1221 |
5 | 12 | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG X | 1'03.2553 | 0.1403 |
6 | 18 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.2882 | 0.1732 |
7 | 8 | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.2904 | 0.1754 |
8 | 23 | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1'03.2905 | 0.1755 |
9 | 2 | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.3020 | 0.1870 |
10 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1'03.4248 | 0.3098 |
11 | 9 | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.4318 | 0.3168 |
12 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG X | 1'03.4568 | 0.3418 |
13 | 55 | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG X | 1'03.5286 | 0.4136 |
14 | 14 | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.5444 | 0.4294 |
15 | 6 | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG X | 1'03.5970 | 0.4820 |
16 | 25 | James Courtney | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.6811 | 0.5661 |
17 | 21 | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.7303 | 0.6153 |
18 | 99 | Anton De Pasquale | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.7708 | 0.6558 |
19 | 230 | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG X | 1'03.7772 | 0.6622 |
20 | 33 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'03.8353 | 0.7203 |
21 | 78 | Simona de Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 1'03.9376 | 0.8226 |
22 | 7 | Andre Heimgartner | Nissan Altima | 1'03.9825 | 0.8675 |
23 | 56 | Richie Stanaway | Ford Falcon FG X | 1'04.0862 | 0.9712 |
24 | 34 | James Golding | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'04.2287 | 1.1137 |
25 | 19 | Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | 1'04.2682 | 1.1532 |
26 | 35 | Todd Hazelwood | Ford Falcon FG X | 1'04.3608 | 1.2458 |
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