Sandown 500: Lowndes ends Friday on top
Craig Lowndes set the co-driver pace to round out Friday practice for the Sandown 500.
Photo by: Edge Photographics
The Red Bull Holden driver spent much of the half-hour session sitting behind teammate Garth Tander, before a rapid two-lap stint on a better set of roaded Dunlops at the end.
The first of those was a 1m07.916s, good enough to put him top, before he improved to a 1m07.835s next time around.
While falling just short of the new lap record set by David Reynolds earlier today, Lowndes' time was good enough to hold off late improvements from Tony D'Alberto and Dale Wood.
“We got told a rain shower was coming, so we were all hustling at the start to get some laps in,” said Lowndes.
“We made the car better over that session, there’s no doubt about that. And that’s always what I’ve loved to do, develop a car.
“We went up on springs, down on springs, we played with shocks, we did everything.
“We got a bit of a balance we wanted, put a set of tyres on that Jamie had previously run. It took three laps though to get the tyre pressures and the balance right, but we were hustling it.”
Penske driver D'Alberto was just 0.06s shy of Lowndes, with Kelly Racing's Wood within a tenth of the ultimate pace as well.
Having not improved at the end, Tander slipped back to fourth ahead of Jack Perkins and Ash Walsh.
Will Brown was seventh in the Erebus Holden, James Moffat and Alex Premat the next best Mustangs behind D'Alberto in eighth and ninth.
Tom Randle rounded out the Top 10, shading Tickford teammate Michael Caruso.
Practice results:
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 888 |
Jamie Whincup
Craig Lowndes |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'07.835 | |
2 | 12 |
Fabian Coulthard
Tony D'Alberto |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'07.895 | 0.060 |
3 | 15 |
Rick Kelly
Dale Wood |
Nissan Altima | 1'07.934 | 0.098 |
4 | 97 |
Shane van Gisbergen
Garth Tander |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'07.953 | 0.118 |
5 | 22 |
James Courtney
Jack Perkins |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'07.979 | 0.143 |
6 | 14 |
Tim Slade
Ash Walsh |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.028 | 0.193 |
7 | 99 |
Anton De Pasquale
Will Brown |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.029 | 0.194 |
8 | 55 |
Chaz Mostert
James Moffat |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'08.048 | 0.212 |
9 | 17 |
Scott McLaughlin
Alexandre Prémat |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'08.075 | 0.239 |
10 | 5 |
Lee Holdsworth
Thomas Randle |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'08.131 | 0.295 |
11 | 6 |
Cameron Waters
Michael Caruso |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'08.166 | 0.330 |
12 | 2 |
Scott Pye
Warren Luff |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.238 | 0.403 |
13 | 7 |
Andre Heimgartner
Bryce Fullwood |
Nissan Altima | 1'08.266 | 0.430 |
14 | 9 |
David Reynolds
Luke Youlden |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.268 | 0.432 |
15 | 23 |
Will Davison
Alex Davison |
Ford Mustang GT | 1'08.321 | 0.485 |
16 | 34 |
James Golding
Richard Muscat |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.415 | 0.580 |
17 | 18 |
Mark Winterbottom
Steven Richards |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.440 | 0.605 |
18 | 33 |
Richie Stanaway
Chris Pither |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.458 | 0.622 |
19 | 3 |
Garry Jacobson
Dean Fiore |
Nissan Altima | 1'08.508 | 0.673 |
20 | 35 |
Todd Hazelwood
Jack Smith |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.601 | 0.765 |
21 | 8 |
Nick Percat
Tim Blanchard |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.613 | 0.778 |
22 | 56 |
Brodie Kostecki
Jake Kostecki |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.714 | 0.878 |
23 | 21 |
Macauley Jones
Dean Canto |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.820 | 0.984 |
24 | 19 |
Jack Le Brocq
Jonathon Webb |
Holden Commodore ZB | 1'08.845 | 1.009 |
25 | 78 |
Simona de Silvestro
Alex Rullo |
Nissan Altima | 1'08.934 | 1.098 |
View full results |
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