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Practice report

Townsville Supercars: Van Gisbergen fastest in opening practice

Shane van Gisbergen led David Reynolds and Craig Lowndes in the opening 40-minute Supercars practice in Townsville.

Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

Supercars

Jamie Whincup spent much of the session on top thanks to an early 1m13.192s, that time not beaten until well inside the final 10 minutes when Lowndes lowered the benchmark to 1m12.912s.

But it was Lowndes and Whincup's Triple Eight teammate van Gisbergen that had the last laugh, the Kiwi going quickest with a 1m12.670s with two minutes of the session to go.

"We had decent tyres, but the car felt pretty good," said van Gisbergen.

"We were all up there from the start, which is a good sign, now we’ve just got to keep up with the track.

"Hopefully the weather holds out. I don’t think we’ve ever had a wet tyre on the car yet. We’ll see what happens."

 

 

David Reynolds' session got off to a smokey start, his Erebus Holden shedding a power steering line on his first run. He was back out within 15 minutes, and ended up second fastest thanks to a 1m12.746s inside the last minute.

“We had a small steering failure. You probably saw the smoke pissing out the rear of my car,” he said.

“The steering went heavy, so we came in, bled it, reconnected it, and it was alright, we just lost the first couple of runs."

Lowndes – who this morning announced his impending retirement – ended up third, while Whincup was fourth after improving on his early time with a 1m13.062s.

Rick Kelly was the best-placed Nissan in fifth, ahead of James Courtney and leading Tickford driver Chaz Mostert.

Andre Heimgartner and Scott Pye were next, with Lee Holdsworth rounding out the Top 10.

Both of the Penske Fords were off the pace, Scott McLaughlin just 12th quickest while Fabian Coulthard was way down in 22nd.

"We just ran the one set [of tyres] and had an idea where the track was at, did our time and then did a 15-lap stint,” said points leader McLaughlin.

“Obviously we know the degradation over the last few rounds has been a bit different. It felt alright.”

ClaDriverCarTimeGap
1 97 new_zealand  Shane van Gisbergen  Holden Commodore ZB 1'12.6700  
2 9 australia  David Reynolds  Holden Commodore ZB 1'12.7467 0.0767
3 888 australia  Craig Lowndes  Holden Commodore ZB 1'12.9126 0.2426
4 1 australia  Jamie Whincup  Holden Commodore ZB 1'13.0625 0.3925
5 15 australia  Rick Kelly  Nissan Altima 1'13.0784 0.4084
6 25 australia  James Courtney  Holden Commodore ZB 1'13.1252 0.4552
7 55 australia  Chaz Mostert  Ford Falcon FG X 1'13.1285 0.4585
8 7 new_zealand  Andre Heimgartner  Nissan Altima 1'13.1758 0.5058
9 2 australia  Scott Pye  Holden Commodore ZB 1'13.2282 0.5582
10 18 australia  Lee Holdsworth  Holden Commodore ZB 1'13.2283 0.5583
11 19 australia  Jack Le Brocq  Holden Commodore ZB 1'13.2850 0.6150
12 17 new_zealand  Scott McLaughlin  Ford Falcon FG X 1'13.2955 0.6255
13 8 australia  Nick Percat  Holden Commodore ZB 1'13.3060 0.6360
14 230 australia  Will Davison  Ford Falcon FG X 1'13.4680 0.7980
15 6 australia  Cameron Waters  Ford Falcon FG X 1'13.5258 0.8558
16 99 australia  Anton de Pasquale  Holden Commodore ZB 1'13.5300 0.8600
17 14 australia  Tim Slade  Holden Commodore ZB 1'13.5455 0.8755
18 23 australia  Michael Caruso  Nissan Altima 1'13.5796 0.9096
19 56 new_zealand  Richie Stanaway  Ford Falcon FG X 1'13.6571 0.9871
20 33 australia  Garth Tander  Holden Commodore ZB 1'13.7278 1.0578
21 5 australia  Mark Winterbottom  Ford Falcon FG X 1'13.7657 1.0957
22 12 new_zealand  Fabian Coulthard  Ford Falcon FG X 1'13.8154 1.1454
23 35 australia  Todd Hazelwood  Ford Falcon FG X 1'13.8732 1.2032
24 78 switzerland  Simona de Silvestro  Nissan Altima 1'14.0501 1.3801
25 21 australia  Tim Blanchard  Holden Commodore ZB 1'14.2592 1.5892
26 34 australia  James Golding  Holden Commodore ZB 1'14.6138 1.9438

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