Sandown 500: Pye tops warm-up
Scott Pye topped the morning warm-up ahead of the 2019 Sandown 500.
With race runs and driver changes the focus of the 20-minute session, there wasn't much in the way of movement at the top of the times.
Lee Holdsworth set the early pace with a 1m08.366s, Anton De Pasquale then lowing the benchmark slightly with a 1m08.239s just after the 10-minute mark.
Scott McLaughlin then went quicker with three minutes to go, the Penske driver banking a 1m08.221s, before Pye set his session-topping 1m08.190s just a few seconds later.
“It’s a little bit more relaxed than the Bathurst [warm-up],” said Pye, who will start the race from down in 23rd.
“It’s so easy at Bathurst to stick it in the fence. Around here you can give it a bit of a crack, so we had some fun.
“Yesterday, wrong tyre choice and the balance was way off, so we’ve got a lot of work to do today.
“That was important for us that session, see what car speed we’ve got.
“We’ve really got to make sure we’ve got a good car under brakes because we’ve got plenty of overtaking we need to do today.”
Nick Percat ended up fifth, despite co-driver Tim Blanchard going off at the Turn 2/3 complex, followed by James Moffat and David Reynolds.
Fabian Coulthard was eighth, James Courtney ninth and Tim Slade in 10th.
Neither Triple Eight car was in the Top 10, Shane van Gisbergen just 12th quickest while the pole-sitting Jamie Whincup/Craig Lowndes car was 16th.
| Cla | # | Driver | Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |  Scott Pye Warren Luff | 1'08.190 | ||
| 2 | 17 |  Scott McLaughlin  Alexandre Prémat | 1'08.221 | 0.030 | 0.030 |
| 3 | 99 | Anton De Pasquale Will Brown | 1'08.239 | 0.049 | 0.018 |
| 4 | 5 | Lee Holdsworth Thomas Randle | 1'08.366 | 0.175 | 0.126 |
| 5 | 8 | Nick Percat Tim Blanchard | 1'08.426 | 0.235 | 0.059 |
| 6 | 55 | Chaz Mostert James Moffat | 1'08.436 | 0.245 | 0.010 |
| 7 | 9 | David Reynolds Luke Youlden | 1'08.486 | 0.295 | 0.050 |
| 8 | 12 | Fabian Coulthard Tony D'Alberto | 1'08.515 | 0.324 | 0.028 |
| 9 | 22 | James Courtney Jack Perkins | 1'08.517 | 0.326 | 0.002 |
| 10 | 14 | Tim Slade Ash Walsh | 1'08.522 | 0.331 | 0.005 |
| View full results | |||||
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About this article
| Series | Supercars |
| Event | Sandown |
| Author | Andrew van Leeuwen |
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