Reynolds breaks record as big guns come unstuck in Practice 2

David Reynolds has headed Practice 2 for the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 as Jamie Whincup, Chaz Mostert, and Scott Pye all got trapped in the gravel.

Reynolds (#9 ZB Commodore) set a practice record 1:07.7779s to knock Penrite Racing team-mate Anton De Pasquale (#99 ZB Commodore) off top spot in the final minute of the half-hour session.

De Pasquale ended up second at 0.1132s off Reynolds’ pace and Scott McLaughlin (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) was third at much the same margin further back.

Mostert finished the session fourth but with his #55 Supercheap Auto Mustang buried at Dandenong Road, metres away from Pye, who had suffered the same fate in the #2 Mobil 1 ZB Commodore.

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Pye had set the early pace although lap times were initially all the way out in the 1:16s after rain earlier in the day.

As the times tumbled, it was not until the end of drivers’ fourth timed laps that Pye was properly unseated, when Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore) went fastest with a 1:10.4093s.

Whincup (#888 Red Bull HRT ZB Commodore) took over the ascendancy next time around with a 1:09.4178s, before Andre Heimgartner (#7 Plus Fitness Altima) set a 1:09.3224s and Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull HRT ZB Commodore) then rolled out a 1:09.1359s.

Moments later, Whincup re-took the lead with a 1:08.5542s, 0.5817s faster than his team-mate, in the ninth minute.

He was fastest to the second sector on his next lap when he locked the left-front of Car #888 at Dandenong Road and ran into the gravel trap, drawing a red flag.

Several more joined him in the 1:08s bracket when the session restarted, with Lee Holdsworth (#5 The Bottle-O Mustang), Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang), Heimgartner, and then Reynolds all spending time at the top of the timing screen.

Van Gisbergen moved the benchmark to a 1:08.1728s on his second run, a time which stood up as the best until De Pasquale clocked a 1:07.8911s in the final five minutes.

That effort was just tenths away from Whincup’s year-old practice/qualifying lap record of 1:07.8389s until Reynolds jumped from sixth to first in the final minute.

Teams had reportedly been adjusting set-ups as the sun started to finally appear over Sandown International Motor Raceway, and McLaughlin eventually rose to third in the new Car #17.

Mostert ended up 0.2759s slower than Reynolds, with Holdsworth in fifth, van Gisbergen sixth, Winterbottom seventh, and Will Davison (#23 Milwaukee Mustang) eighth.

Whincup did get back out on-track but only found a couple more tenths of a second to put Car #888 into ninth, one position ahead of Heimgartner, while Pye was 22nd all told.

The session did end under green flag, given the lateness of Pye’s and Mostert’s respective offs at Dandenong Road.

Practice 3 is another half-hour hit-out for co-drivers only from 1520 local time/AEDT.

Results: Practice 2

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver(s)	Car	Fastest lap	Split
1	9	Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	1:07.7779
2	99	Penrite Racing	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	1:07.8911	0:00.1132
3	17	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Mustang GT	1:07.9985	0:00.2206
4	55	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Mustang GT	1:08.0538	0:00.2759
5	5	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	1:08.0704	0:00.2925
6	97	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.1336	0:00.3557
7	18	Irwin Racing	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.2542	0:00.4763
8	23	Milwaukee Racing	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	1:08.2612	0:00.4833
9	888	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.2716	0:00.4937
10	7	Plus Fitness Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	1:08.2819	0:00.5040
11	22	Mobil 1 Racing	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.2839	0:00.5060
12	6	Monster Energy Racing Team	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	1:08.2869	0:00.5090
13	14	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.3000	0:00.5221
14	34	Boost Mobile Racing	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.3187	0:00.5408
15	15	Castrol Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:08.3527	0:00.5748
16	8	Fujitsu Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.3861	0:00.6082
17	12	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Mustang GT	1:08.3970	0:00.6191
18	33	Boost Mobile Racing	Richie Stanaway	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.4504	0:00.6725
19	78	Team Harvey Norman	Simona De Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1:08.6838	0:00.9059
20	3	RABBLE.club Racing	Garry Jacobson	Nissan Altima	1:08.7432	0:00.9653
21	35	Bigmate Racing	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.8316	0:01.0537
22	2	Mobil 1 Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.8318	0:01.0539
23	56	Boost Mobile Kostecki Brothers	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.8357	0:01.0578
24	21	Team CoolDrive	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1:09.0066	0:01.2287
25	19	Truck Assist TEKNO Racing	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1:09.7242	0:01.9463