Whincup bounces back in second practice

Jamie Whincup recovered from a crash in the day’s opening session to end practice for the Castrol Edge Townsville 400 at the top of the order.

Red Bull team-mate Shane van GIsbergen led the way for the majority of the 40 minutes after being the first to dip into the 1:12s bracket.

The Kiwi’s 1:12.78s stood at the top until just three minutes remained when Whincup put down his 1:12.55s.

Whincup’s crew had been forced into significant repairs between sessions after he clouted the concrete at Turn 3.

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“It did a massive amount of damage and the boys basically put a whole new front-end in it,” said Whincup.

“The car is ok, I don’t think anyone really nailed it and we ended up P1.

“The track is slippery, so they’re going to be long races.”

Chaz Mostert and Will Davison squeezed between the Red Bull pair in the dying minutes, backing up their strong performances from earlier in the day.

Practice 1 pace-setter David Reynolds slotted into fifth ahead of Scott McLaughlin, Mark Winterbottom, James Courtney, Michael Caruso and Rick Kelly.

Like the opening session, the start was delayed while track workers attended to a surface break up at the Turn 2 hairpin.

The session ran green for its duration, with a trip down the Turn 2 escape road for Fabian Coulthard after a major lock-up the only notable incident.

Coulthard ended a tough day for DJR Team Penske in 22nd; one place behind team-mate Scott Pye.

The Super Street format sees no additional practice session on Saturday morning, ensuring teams must roll straight into qualifying at 1255 local time.

Result: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Castrol Edge Townsville 400 Practice 2 

1	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1:12.5530*S
2	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:12.5995 S	0:00.0465
3	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1:12.7206 S	0:00.1676
4	Red Bull Racing Australia	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1:12.7792 S	0:00.2262
5	Erebus Motorsport Penrite	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1:12.8273 S	0:00.2743
6	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60	1:12.8651 S	0:00.3121
7	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:12.8668 S	0:00.3138
8	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1:12.9078 S	0:00.3548
9	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1:12.9130 S	0:00.3600
10	Sengled Motorsport	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:12.9307 S	0:00.3777
11	Super Black Racing	Chris Pither	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:12.9674 S	0:00.4144
12	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:12.9717 S	0:00.4187
13	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.0164 S	0:00.4634
14	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Moffat	Volvo S60	1:13.0598 S	0:00.5068
15	carsales Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:13.1518 S	0:00.5988
16	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.1916 S	0:00.6386
17	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.1925 S	0:00.6395
18	GB Galvanizing Racing	Dale Wood	Nissan Altima	1:13.1948 S	0:00.6418
19	LD Motorsport	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.2072 S	0:00.6542
20	TeamVortex	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.2666 S	0:00.7136
21	DJR Team Penske	Scott Pye	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:13.2711 S	0:00.7181
22	DJR Team Penske	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:13.4750 S	0:00.9220
23	LD Motorsport	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.5643 S	0:01.0113
24	Team Cooldrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	1:13.8498 S	0:01.2968
25	Preston Hire Racing	Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore VF	1:14.1325 S	0:01.5795
26	Plus Fitness Racing	Aaren Russell	Holden Commodore VF	1:14.1852 S	0:01.6322