McLaughlin fastest in willing final practice at Sandown

Scott McLaughlin finished just ahead of Jamie Whincup as several front-runners found the grass in the final practice session at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.

The top six went under David Reynolds’ practice record from the afternoon prior during Practice 4, with McLaughlin clocking a fastest of 1:07.5425s in the #17 Shell V-Power Mustang.

Whincup was on to beat that with the chequered flag out but came up 0.0017s short, with Tickford team-mates Cameron Waters and Lee Holdsworth also within a tenth of a second of the lead DJR Team Penske car.

Waters had set the pace through the first runs with a 1:07.9599s in the #6 Monster Energy Mustang, and Whincup was the only driver to join him in the 1:07s before returning to the pits.

THE FINAL RACE OF THE 2023 REPCO SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP ON ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST STREET CIRCUITS.
GO ALL IN AT THE VAILO ADELAIDE 500, CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS

McLaughlin took over the lead through the second runs with a 1:07.7885s after a brief spell on the top of the timing screen for Holdsworth (#5 The Bottle-O Mustang), while Reynolds (#9 Penrite Racing ZB Commodore) moved to third after an off at Turn 2/Turn 3.

Whincup had been fastest to the second sector when he brought the #888 Red Bull HRT ZB Commodore into the pits to end his second run.

McLaughlin took at least two new tyres when he became the first to break the day-old practice record by setting a 1:07.5425s on his third run.

Team-mate Fabian Coulthard straight-lined the Turn 2/Turn 3 complex before he moved up to second with a 1:07.7213s in the #12 Mustang, while Andre Heimgartner (#7 Plus Fitness Altima) set a 1:07.7605s ahead of the final runs.

Holdsworth then took two steps to move back up to second position at 0.0905s behind McLaughlin.

Whincup went fastest to the second sector as the chequered flag came out after the 30 minutes of running, but lost time in the final complex of corners and broke the beam at 1:07.5542s.

“We’ve got to do that (lap record) in qualifying now,” said McLaughlin.

“Car’s feeling really good, it’s been good straight out of the truck; it’s all you can ask out of a new car.

“It’s been a tough few weeks so these guys, I just want to reward them in qualifying.”

Waters, who had sprayed off at Turn 1 in what was reportedly an out lap simulation on his second run, then moved up four spots to third at 0.0606s off the pace.

That left Holdsworth fourth and shuffled Coulthard and Heimgartner back to fifth and sixth, respectively.

Ironically, Reynolds was first outside his old practice record in seventh, ahead of Will Davison (#23 Milwaukee Mustang), Chaz Mostert (#55 Supercheap Auto Mustang), and Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore).

Anton De Pasquale (#99 Penrite ZB Commodore) had an off at Turn 1 on his way to 11th, James Courtney (#22 Mobil 1 ZB Commodore) toured the grass at Turn 2/Turn 3 as he ended up 12th, and Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull HRT ZB Commodore) did likewise before being bundled back to 18th.

“I made a mistake on our fast lap and went off and got the new cut system (kerb timing loop),” said the latter.

“We’re better than we look but we’ll see how we go this arvo.”

Only primary drivers got behind the wheel in a session which was run under grey skies.

Next for the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship field is Armor All Qualifying at 1225 local time/AEDT.

Results: Practice 4

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver(s)	Car	Fastest lap	Split
1	17	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Mustang GT	1:07.5425
2	888	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	1:07.5442	0:00.0017
3	6	Monster Energy Racing Team	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	1:07.6031	0:00.0606
4	5	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	1:07.6330	0:00.0905
5	12	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Mustang GT	1:07.7213	0:00.1788
6	7	Plus Fitness Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	1:07.7605	0:00.2180
7	9	Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	1:07.8031	0:00.2606
8	23	Milwaukee Racing	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	1:07.9353	0:00.3928
9	55	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Mustang GT	1:07.9530	0:00.4105
10	18	Irwin Racing	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.0041	0:00.4616
11	99	Penrite Racing	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.0239	0:00.4814
12	22	Mobil 1 Racing	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.0430	0:00.5005
13	34	Boost Mobile Racing	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.0888	0:00.5463
14	15	Castrol Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:08.1077	0:00.5652
15	14	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.1126	0:00.5701
16	33	Boost Mobile Racing	Richie Stanaway	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.1467	0:00.6042
17	3	RABBLE.club Racing	Garry Jacobson	Nissan Altima	1:08.1490	0:00.6065
18	97	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.2247	0:00.6822
19	8	Fujitsu Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.2283	0:00.6858
20	2	Mobil 1 Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.2424	0:00.6999
21	35	Bigmate Racing	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.2559	0:00.7134
22	56	Boost Mobile Kostecki Brothers	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.5160	0:00.9735
23	21	Team CoolDrive	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.5456	0:01.0031
24	78	Team Harvey Norman	Simona De Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1:08.5502	0:01.0077
25	19	Truck Assist TEKNO Racing	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08.7923	0:01.2498