Whincup edges Kelly in tight Darwin practice

Jamie Whincup beat Rick Kelly to the fastest time in a second practice session that saw the top five cars separated by less than a tenth of a second.

Erebus Motorsport’s David Reynolds sat atop the order for 40 minutes before a final flurry of fast times on new soft tyres.

Whincup was the first to displace Reynolds, recording 1:06.62s to move 0.2s clear of the Penrite Commodore.

Red Bull team-mate Shane van Gisbergen moved to second before being displaced by Rick Kelly, who fell just 0.0077s short of a double having topped Practice 1.

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Scott McLaughlin wound up fourth ahead of Scott Pye, who was left to lament a fumbled gear change on his lap that proved just 0.07s shy of Whincup.

Team-mate Fabian Coulthard was sixth despite missing the first 35 minutes of the session while DJR Team Penske completed an engine change on the #12 Ford.

The Kiwi had battled a misfire in the opening session which the team had failed to rectify.

James Moffat, Dale Wood, Chaz Mostert and Mark Winterbottom completed the top 10, with Reynolds falling to 12th.

Erebus team-mate Aaren Russell crashed out of the session just prior to the halfway mark, making right-front contact with the tyre wall after running off at Turn 10.

The rookie was able to drive his Plus Fitness Holden back to pitlane but took no further part in the session.

“I just lost the rear real early in the corner, it took me wide and from there I was a passenger,” explained Russell.

“These things happen, you’ve just got to have faith in the crew that they’ll fix it.

“It’s a shame we’ve lost the session, obviously Dave’s doing well and we’d only been on one set of softs all weekend.”

Like in Practice 1, the session ran green for its duration despite a host of drivers spearing off under brakes at Turns 1 and 5.

A final 15 minute practice session will take place tomorrow morning.

Result: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown Practice 2

1	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1:06.6209
2	Sengled Motorsport	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:06.6286	00.0077
3	Red Bull Racing Australia	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1:06.6442	00.0233
4	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60	1:06.6694	00.0485
5	DJR Team Penske	Scott Pye	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:06.6956	00.0747
6	DJR Team Penske	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:06.7631	00.1422
7	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Moffat	Volvo S60	1:06.7767	00.1558
8	GB Galvanizing Racing	Dale Wood	Nissan Altima	1:06.7850	00.1641
9	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:06.7889	00.1680
10	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:06.7936	00.1727
11	Preston Hire Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	1:06.7974	00.1765
12	Erebus Motorsport Penrite	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1:06.8246	00.2037
13	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1:06.9008	00.2799
14	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:06.9201	00.2992
15	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	1:06.9214	00.3005
16	ABRO/Repair Management Aust	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1:06.9447	00.3238
17	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1:06.9743	00.3534
18	Team Cooldrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	1:07.0286	00.4077
19	carsales Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:07.0414	00.4205
20	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	1:07.0734	00.4525
21	Super Black Racing	Chris Pither	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:07.1663	00.5454
22	TeamVortex	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1:07.2501	00.6292
23	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1:07.2887	00.6678
24	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1:07.7157	01.0948
25	ABRO/Repair Management Aust	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore VF	1:07.9760	01.3551
26	Plus Fitness Racing	Aaren Russell	Holden Commodore VF	1:08.5022	01.8813