Paul Dumbrell on top in V8 Practice 2

Paul Dumbrell has topped the times in the second ‘bottom 50 percent’ practice session ahead of this weekend’s ITM400 Hamilton.

The Bottle-O Racing Ford Falcon driver set a time of 1m23.2096, over 0.2s faster than next best James Moffat (Jim Beam Racing).

Rounding out the top 10 was Dean Fiore (Triple F Racing), Todd Kelly (Jack Daniel’s Racing), Greg Murphy (Pepsi Max Crew), Lee Holdsworth (Fujitsu Racing), Tony D’Alberto (Wilson Security Racing), Steve Johnson (Jim Beam Racing), Russell Ingall (Supercheap Auto Racing) and Jason Bargwanna (Jana Living Racing).

The back straight chicane was modified for the session, with a tyre bundle introduced in the second part of the chicane. During the first practice session, the three sensor points were triggered nearly 70 times, with the second sensor begin hit 60 times.

In the second session, the amount of short cutting was down to 46.

Local hero Murphy was the most prolific short-cutter, tripping the beam seven times.

The real test will come in the final two sessions of today when all 28 cars hit the track at 2.15pm NZT.

A decision will be made at the end of the day to determine how or if the tyre bundles will be implemented over the weekend.

See below for Speedcafe.com’s ITM400 Hamilton Race Guide