Waters beats McLaughlin by thousandths in Practice 2

Cameron Waters has gone fastest in Practice 2 at the Robson Civil Projects Townsville SuperSprint by a margin of 0.0029s over Scott McLaughlin.

McLaughlin held sway for much of the half-hour session and drove the #17 Shell V-Power Mustang to a 1:12.3421s in the final minutes.

The championship leader was knocked off top spot after the chequered flag when Waters set his 1:12.3392s in Tickford Racing’s #6 Monster Energy Mustang, beating James Courtney’s Practice 1 benchmark by almost three tenths.

Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert finished third at 0.1216s off the pace, ahead of Courtney (#44 Boost Mobile Mustang) and the Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s Jamie Whincup.

The latter was quickest after the first runs with a 1:12.5045s in the #88 ZB Commodore before McLaughlin, on new tyres, clocked a 1:12.4512s.

While only 0.0533s separated those two title combatants at the time, Mostert managed to split them when he put in a 1:12.4899s in the #25 Mobil 1 Appliances Online ZB Commodore.

As was the case in the previous hit-out, the order settled before being shaken up again in the final runs.

Mostert improved to a 1:12.4608s in the last minute, not long after McLaughlin’s final run, before Courtney jumped to third with a 1:12.4772s.

That meant that Whincup, whose first flyer was still his fastest, was shuffled back to fifth, from Lee Holdsworth (#5 Truck Assist Mustang), Nick Percat (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore), and Bryce Fullwood (#2 Mobil 1 Middy’s ZB Commodore).

Shane van Gisbergen (Red Bull HRT) ended up ninth with a best time of 1:12.6694s, following another wild moment when he had to catch a big wiggle in the #97 ZB Commodore through Turn 10 in the early stages.

Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore) rounded out the top 10, while Penrite Racing entries of Anton De Pasquale (#99 ZB Commodore) and David Reynolds (#9 ZB Commodore) were 15th and 17th respectively, with Fabian Coulthard (#12 Shell V-Power Mustang) splitting them.

Qualifying for Race 22 of the season, including a Top 10 Shootout, is scheduled to commence at 12:45 local time/AEST.

Results: Practice 2

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver	Car	Fastest lap	Split
1	6	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.3392
2	17	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.3421	0:00.0029
3	25	Mobil 1 Appliances Online	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.4608	0:00.1216
4	44	Boost Mobile Racing	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.4772	0:00.1380
5	88	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.5045	0:00.1653
6	5	Truck Assist Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.5074	0:00.1682
7	8	R&J Batteries	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.5951	0:00.2559
8	2	Mobil 1 TM Middy’s Racing	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.6097	0:00.2705
9	97	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.6694	0:00.3302
10	18	IRWIN Racing	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.7180	0:00.3788
11	55	Supercheap Auto Racing	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.7387	0:00.3995
12	19	Local Legends Racing	Alex Davison	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.7584	0:00.4192
13	3	Team CoolDrive	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.7916	0:00.4524
14	14	Team Black Duck	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.7947	0:00.4555
15	99	Penrite Racing	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.8409	0:00.5017
16	12	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.8561	0:00.5169
17	9	Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.8724	0:00.5332
18	35	Yellow Cover Racing	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	1:13.0049	0:00.6657
19	15	Castrol Racing	Rick Kelly	Ford Mustang GT	1:13.0768	0:00.7376
20	7	NED Whisky Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	1:13.1102	0:00.7710
21	20	DEWALT Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1:13.1176	0:00.7784
22	22	Team SYDNEY	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	1:13.3427	0:01.0035
23	4	SCT Motor Sports	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	1:13.4356	0:01.0964
24	34	UNIT Racing	Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1:13.4831	0:01.1439