Sydney Supercars: De Pasquale leads the way in practice

Coming off the back of three poles and two wins last week, the Dick Johnson Racing ace was once again the class of the field to kick off the second Sydney SuperNight.

He was untouchable across the half-hour practice session, going quickest on his first run with a 1m30.584s.

De Pasquale then improved on his final run, dipping under the 1m30s mark with a 1m29.880s that left him over six-tenths clear of the field.

"It'a a very different track to what we rolled out on last week," he said. "It's a second and a half slower straight up.

"But [the car] feels okay. We made a couple of little changes, fine-tuned it, but it's still in the same window we rolled out here a week ago."

Best of the rest was De Pasquale's Race 3 rival from last week Will Brown. The Erebus driver jumped to second on his final run with a 1m30.527s, which left him four-hundredths ahead of fellow late improver Jack Le Brocq.

Brodie Kostecki capped off a solid session with Erebus with the four quickest time ahead of Tim Slade.

Will Davison and James Courtney were next, followed by best-placed Triple Eight driver Jamie Whincup, who didn't improve late in the session.

Chaz Mostert and Cam Waters rounded out the Top 10, while series leader Shane van Gisbergen was left languishing down in 15th after triggering track limits on his final lap.

Thomas Randle was best of the wildcards in 20th, four spots clear of fellow one-off starter Kurt Kostecki.

Fabian Coulthard, meanwhile, didn't get much running in thanks to an engine problem. He spent the first part of the session in the garage as Team Sydney worked on the car, and once on track he didn't get far before coming to a stop at Turn 4.

That sparked the only stoppage of the session.

At the very back of the field was super sub Luke Youlden, who is standing in for the sidelined David Reynolds.

The 20-year veteran, who is quite remarkably making his first solo start this weekend, was left to rue a track limits breach on a very rare green tyre run.

"I can't even remember [when I last ran greens]," said the Bathurst-winning endurance specialist. "It's fair to say I didn't get the most out of them, my lap got deleted on greens.

"I'm just working on technique through that session, there's still a little bit to go. But I feel good, comfortable. Looking forward to the next session."

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	11	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	14	1'29.880
2	9	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	11	1'30.527	0.646	0.646
3	5	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	13	1'30.564	0.683	0.036
4	99	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	11	1'30.600	0.719	0.036
5	3	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	10	1'30.605	0.724	0.004
6	17	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	11	1'30.616	0.735	0.011
7	44	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	12	1'30.786	0.905	0.170
8	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	11	1'30.801	0.920	0.014
9	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	10	1'30.816	0.935	0.014
10	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	13	1'30.863	0.983	0.047
11	7	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	11	1'30.882	1.002	0.019
12	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	14	1'30.895	1.014	0.012
13	22	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	11	1'30.935	1.055	0.040
14	14	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	12	1'31.004	1.123	0.068
15	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	13	1'31.026	1.145	0.021
16	96	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	11	1'31.139	1.258	0.113
17	34	Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	11	1'31.163	1.282	0.023
18	35	Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	12	1'31.169	1.289	0.006
19	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	13	1'31.181	1.300	0.011
20	55	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	11	1'31.258	1.378	0.077
21	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	9	1'31.353	1.472	0.094
22	19	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore ZB	5	1'31.627	1.746	0.274
23	2	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	7	1'31.888	2.008	0.261
24	27	Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	12	1'32.203	2.322	0.314
25	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	12	1'32.539	2.659	0.336
26	26	Luke Youlden	Ford Mustang GT	13	1'32.762	2.882	0.222
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