Pukekohe Supercars: McLaughlin edges T8 Holdens in opening practice

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