Whincup fastest, Tickfords miss top 10 in Prac 4

Jamie Whincup has set the fastest lap in Supercars Practice 4 at Symmons Plains but all four Tickford Falcons will have to go into the first part of Qualifying for Race 8 of the championship.

Whincup was first for most of the 20-minute session though Triple Eight team-mate Craig Lowndes briefly put himself at the top of the timing screen.

Lowndes clocked a 0:50.7212s in the Autobarn ZB Commodore with a couple of minutes remaining before Whincup went just 0.0308s quicker.

“We learnt a lot from yesterday,” said Lowndes.

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“We had good tyre life yesterday, you normally spring up for qualifying but this was a practice session so you’ve still got to learn a little bit this morning.

“We were good enough obviously to be the in top 10. Things are looking really positive for us at the moment.”

Scott McLaughlin was just over a tenth off the benchmark in his Shell V-Power Falcon, while team-mate Fabian Coulthard also earned a bye to Part 2 of Armor All Qualifying in ninth position.

Jack Le Brocq’s breakout weekend continued when he finished fourth-fastest in the Tekno Autosports Commodore, after he went through all three parts of qualifying on the Saturday then finished 10th in Race 7.

David Reynolds, James Courtney, Garth Tander, and Shane van Gisbergen filled fifth through eighth, while Rick Kelly completed the top 10.

Cameron Waters was Tickford’s best in 11th at just 0.2714s away from Whincup, with team-mates Mark Winterbottom 16th, Chaz Mostert 21st, and Richie Stanaway 26th.

“I probably would have preferred to go straight through (into Part 2 of qualifying) to be honest. That was the aim for that session,” lamented Waters.

“We’re just kind of struggling with the cars, all four of us have got kind of a similar problem.

“It’s weird but we’re slowly chipping away and all trying to work out what it is.”

Scott Pye too missed the cut-off in 12th position.

There is now a short turnaround to Armor All Qualifying at 1105 local time/AEST.

Results: Practice 4

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver	Car	Fastest lap	Split
1	1	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	0:50.6904
2	888	Autobarn Lowndes Racing	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	0:50.7212	0:00.0308
3	17	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:50.7988	0:00.1084
4	19	Tekno Autosports	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	0:50.8389	0:00.1485
5	9	Erebus Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	0:50.8393	0:00.1489
6	25	Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	0:50.8436	0:00.1532
7	33	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore ZB	0:50.8645	0:00.1741
8	97	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	0:50.9284	0:00.2380
9	12	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:50.9330	0:00.2426
10	15	Castrol Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	0:50.9471	0:00.2567
11	6	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:50.9618	0:00.2714
12	2	Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	0:50.9644	0:00.2740
13	8	Blackwoods Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	0:51.0036	0:00.3132
14	7	Plus Fitness Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	0:51.0475	0:00.3571
15	18	Preston Hire Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore ZB	0:51.0565	0:00.3661
16	5	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.0622	0:00.3718
17	23	Drive Racing	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	0:51.0909	0:00.4005
18	14	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	0:51.1027	0:00.4123
19	35	Bigmate Racing	Todd Hazelwood	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.1350	0:00.4446
20	230	Milwaukee Racing	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.1909	0:00.5005
21	55	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.1928	0:00.5024
22	78	Team Harvey Norman	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	0:51.4232	0:00.7328
23	21	CoolDrive Racing	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	0:51.4291	0:00.7387
24	34	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	0:51.4506	0:00.7602
25	99	Erebus Thermosphere Racing	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	0:51.5064	0:00.8160
26	56	Tickford Racing	Richie Stanaway	Ford Falcon FG/X	0:51.6443	0:00.9539