Sandown 500: Dumbrell hands early advantage to Triple Eight

Dumbrell, teaming up with Jamie Whincup for a seventh consecutive enduro season, went fastest just before the half-way mark in the 30-minute session with a 1m07.846s.

At that point the time was seven tenths clear of the field, and even after a flurry of late times it was still good enough to leave Dumbrell more than four tenths faster than anyone else as the session came to an end.

"I think my first flying lap in the Super2 car this morning, I nearly hit the inside fence waiting for the understeer,” he said.

“I was four wheels over the inside kerb, and it’s [normally] hard to get there.

“The surface looks like it’s deteriorated since it’s been resurfaced in [Turns] 1 and 4, but the lap times say something different.”

Nissan Motorsport's Dean Fiore was the best of the rest, a 1m08.278s inside the last minute leaving him second fastest.

Jack Perkins put the #25 Walkinshaw Holden third on his final run, making him the best of the drivers not to have run in the Super2 practice session earlier this morning.

Alex Rullo was fourth quickest in the #78 Nissan, followed by Tekno owner/driver Jono Webb and Walkinshaw's Warren Luff.

Alex Premat was best of the DJR Team Penske co-drivers in seventh, while Garry Jacobson capped off a decent session for Nissan with eighth in the #15 Altima.

Tony D'Alberto (#12 Penske Ford) and Steve Richards (#888 Triple Eight Holden) rounded out the Top 10.

Tickford Racing endured a slow start to the weekend, James Moffat the best of the team's four co-drivers with 13th in the #55 Ford.

Earl Bamber, the least experienced driver in the field in terms of both Supercars laps and Sandown track knowledge, was 14th in the #97 Triple Eight car.

“I’m pretty happy," said the Le Mans winner. "I expected to be further down because I’ve never been here and the field is pretty close.

“The track is wicked. It’s cool to bounce these cars. It’s the first time I’ve attacked a proper kerb with one of them, so it’s good fun.”

The biggest name outside the Top 20 was reigning Bathurst 1000 winner Luke Youlden, who was 21st quickest in the Erebus Holden.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	1	Jamie Whincup Paul Dumbrell	Holden Commodore ZB	1'07.8467
2	23	Michael Caruso Dean Fiore	Nissan Altima	1'08.2786	0.4319
3	25	James Courtney Jack Perkins	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.4458	0.5991
4	78	Simona de Silvestro Alex Rullo	Nissan Altima	1'08.4950	0.6483
5	19	Jonathon Webb Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.5013	0.6546
6	2	Warren Luff Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.5740	0.7273
7	17	Alexandre Prémat Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG X	1'08.5853	0.7386
8	15	Rick Kelly Garry Jacobson	Nissan Altima	1'08.6119	0.7652
9	12	Tony D'Alberto Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG X	1'08.6396	0.7929
10	888	Steven Richards Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.6610	0.8143
11	8	Nick Percat Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.6677	0.8210
12	21	Dale Wood Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.7068	0.8601
13	55	Chaz Mostert James Moffat	Ford Falcon FG X	1'08.7383	0.8916
14	97	Earl Bamber Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.7871	0.9404
15	6	David Russell Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG X	1'08.8013	0.9546
16	99	Will Brown Anton de	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.8031	0.9564
17	33	Garth Tander Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.8729	1.0262
18	14	Tim Slade Ash Walsh	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.8987	1.0520
19	7	Andre Heimgartner Aaren Russell	Nissan Altima	1'08.9572	1.1105
20	34	James Golding Richard Muscat	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.9623	1.1156
21	9	David Reynolds Luke Youlden	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.9792	1.1325
22	230	Alex Davison Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG X	1'08.9894	1.1427
23	56	Richie Stanaway Steven Owen	Ford Falcon FG X	1'09.0236	1.1769
24	18	Lee Holdsworth Jason Bright	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.0339	1.1872
25	5	Mark Winterbottom Dean Canto	Ford Falcon FG X	1'09.0678	1.2211
26	35	Bryce Fullwood Todd Hazelwood	Ford Falcon FG X	1'09.6454	1.7987