Lowndes fastest at end of opening day in Austin

Craig Lowndes has ended practice for the Austin 400 on top of the time sheets following a late flurry of fast times in the fourth and final session of the day.

The Red Bull Racing Australia pilot had been just 10th, 12th and 13th in the first three hit-outs as he joined much of the field in starting the day on wet tyres while learning the circuit.

Not happy with the balance of the #888 Holden on his first set of slicks, Lowndes decided to complete a single hot lap on a second new set in Practice 4; jumping to the head of the pack by a full 1.3s with just six minutes remaining.

A host of other drivers also moved to a second set of slicks late in the going, with the top 10 each setting their fastest times on their final run of the day.

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Will Davison went closest to Lowndes’ benchmark in the closing minutes, falling 0.34s short of his Holden rival’s 1:32.90s effort to be second fastest in his Pepsi Max FPR Falcon.

Jonathon Webb, Chaz Mostert, James Courtney, Tony D’Alberto, Alex Davison, Tim Slade and Shane Van Gisbergen completed the top 10.

Van Gisbergen had earlier edged Fabian Coulthard to the fastest time with a late effort in Practice 3.

Morning pace-setter Scott McLaughlin and team-mate Alexandre Premat ran one-two with 10 minutes to go in Practice 4 but fell to 16th and 18th respectively.

The Fujitsu GRM outfit had been among the most frugal with their slick tyre allocation across the day. McLaughlin ran just two laps on slicks prior to the final hit-out, while Premat did not see the dry rubber at all until the second half of Practice 4.

Saturday’s V8 Supercars action at the Circuit of the Americas will see two qualifying sessions ahead of Races 13 and 14 of the championship.

See below for the full Practice 4 result

1	Red Bull Racing Australia	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1:32.9042R
2	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG	1:33.2403r	0:00.3361
3	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.4845r	0:00.5803
4	Tekno Autosports	Jonathon Webb	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.5195r	0:00.6153
5	Wilson Security Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG	1:33.6855r	0:00.7813
6	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.7511r	0:00.8469
7	Team HIFLEX	Tony D’Alberto	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.8497r	0:00.9455
8	Jeld-wen FPR Ford	Alex Davison	Ford Falcon FG	1:33.8782r	0:00.9740
9	Heavy Haulage Australia	Tim Slade	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:33.9287r	0:01.0245
10	TEKNO Team VIP	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1:33.9525r	0:01.0483
11	ekol Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1:34.0227r	0:01.1185
12	Supercheap Auto Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden Commodore VF	1:34.1304r	0:01.2262
13	The Bottle-O FPR Ford	David Reynolds	Ford Falcon FG	1:34.1928r	0:01.2886
14	Dodo Insurance Racing	Dean Fiore	Holden Commodore VF	1:34.2922	0:01.3880
15	Irwin Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:34.3313	0:01.4271
16	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Holden Commodore VF	1:34.5149	0:01.6107
17	Lockwood Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VF	1:34.5423	0:01.6381
18	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Alexandre Premat	Holden Commodore VF	1:34.5500	0:01.6458
19	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG	1:34.5588	0:01.6546
20	Wilson Security Racing	David Wall	Holden Commodore VF	1:34.9919	0:02.0877
21	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1:35.0175	0:02.1133
22	SP Tools Racing	Maro Engel	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:35.1702	0:02.2660
23	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:35.1743	0:02.2701
24	Norton 360 Racing	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1:35.2394	0:02.3352
25	Wilson Security Racing	Tim Blanchard	Ford Falcon FG	1:35.6796	0:02.7754
26	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:35.7513	0:02.8471
27	Norton 360 Racing	James Moffat	Nissan Altima	1:36.2557	0:03.3515
28	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	1:36.4518	0:03.5476

See below for the full Practice 3 result

1	TEKNO Team VIP	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1:34.5358
2	Lockwood Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VF	1:34.7772	0:00.2414
3	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG	1:35.1143	0:00.5785
4	The Bottle-O FPR Ford	David Reynolds	Ford Falcon FG	1:35.2025	0:00.6667
5	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG	1:35.3716	0:00.8358
6	Norton 360 Racing	James Moffat	Nissan Altima	1:35.3753	0:00.8395
7	Tekno Autosports	Jonathon Webb	Holden Commodore VF	1:35.3992	0:00.8634
8	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	1:35.4798	0:00.9440
9	Wilson Security Racing	David Wall	Holden Commodore VF	1:35.6260	0:01.0902
10	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1:35.6586	0:01.1228
11	Heavy Haulage Australia	Tim Slade	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:35.7100	0:01.1742
12	Jeld-wen FPR Ford	Alex Davison	Ford Falcon FG	1:35.7696	0:01.2338
13	Red Bull Racing Australia	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1:35.8117	0:01.2759
14	Dodo Insurance Racing	Dean Fiore	Holden Commodore VF	1:35.8744	0:01.3386
15	ekol Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1:35.8892	0:01.3534
16	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:35.9162	0:01.3804
17	Norton 360 Racing	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1:35.9368	0:01.4010
18	Irwin Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:36.0049	0:01.4691
19	Wilson Security Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG	1:36.1414	0:01.6056
20	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1:36.1975	0:01.6617
21	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:36.2124	0:01.6766
22	Team HIFLEX	Tony D’Alberto	Holden Commodore VF	1:36.2810	0:01.7452
23	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1:36.2930	0:01.7572
24	SP Tools Racing	Maro Engel	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:36.4035	0:01.8677
25	Supercheap Auto Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden Commodore VF	1:36.6971	0:02.1613
26	Wilson Security Racing	Tim Blanchard	Ford Falcon FG	1:37.1632	0:02.6274
27	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Holden Commodore VF	1:39.3620	0:04.8262
28	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Alexandre Premat	Holden Commodore VF	1:39.3647	0:04.8289