Davison fastest, Kostecki swipes wall in Pukekohe Practice 2

Will Davison has gone fastest in Repco Supercars Championship Practice 2 at the ITM Auckland SuperSprint as Brodie Kostecki glanced the wall at Pukekohe’s fast final corner.

Kostecki got loose and plucked the wing plane off the left-hand side endplate with the initial touch of the concrete in the #99 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore before a secondary glance of the wall.

He was able to drive back to the pits and it was green flag conditions for the final 90 seconds of the sessions or thereabouts, during which time championship leader Shane van Gisbergen himself had a big catch at the same corner in the #97 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore.

Aside from the tale of the stopwatch, the other notable story of Practice 2 was the fact that both of the Shell V-Power Racing Team entries, the Mustangs of Davison and Anton De Pasquale, are under investigation for pit lane speeding.

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On the race track proper, Davison was certainly fast, going as quick as a 1:02.1524s in Car #17 despite having already run on both practice sets of his tyres on the afternoon prior.

Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore), Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus ZB Commodore), and Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI ZB Commodore) all finished within a tenth of a second of the fastest lap, with van Gisbergen fifth at 0.1056s off the pace.

While light rain had fallen earlier in the day, it was dry conditions as 25 drivers rolled out for a second half-hour of practice.

Van Gisbergen was quickest on a 1:02.8077s before he returned to the pits, but Heimgartner held sway on a 1:02.6346s once he completed his first run proper.

A red flag was called exactly 10 minutes into the session after Jake Kostecki (#56 Tradie Mustang) hit the tyre wall at the exit of Turn 3, harder than Tickford Racing team-mate Cameron Waters had done on the afternoon prior, although he would drive away unassisted.

When the session resumed, the pattern repeated, with van Gisbergen going quickest on a 1:02.5905s before he was usurped by Heimgartner on a 1:02.4610s.

However, both times were bettered by Waters’ (#50 Monster Energy Mustang) 1:02.4304s then Practice 1 fast man De Pasquale’s (#11 Mustang) 1:02.3791s before the second runs proper were done.

Davison then went top on a 1:02.2929s on tyres he had already used in Practice 1, and the time stood as the benchmark for a couple of minutes until van Gisbergen clocked a 1:02.2580s.

With less than six minutes remaining, Davison returned to first spot with a 1:02.1524s, while Heimgartner closed to a 1:02.1643s in the 28th minute.

The chequered flag came out before Mostert set the fastest first sector and improved to third all-told on a 1:02.2249s, usurping his Walkinshaw Andretti United team-mate Percat by 0.0022s.

De Pasquale ended up sixth on a 1:02.3350s, from Waters, Scott Pye (#20 Nulon ZB Commodore), Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s ZB Commodore), and David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang), with Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore) 11th on a 1:02.5819s.

Qualifying for Race 27, a three-part knockout session, starts at 14:00 local time/12:00 AEST.

Results: Practice 2

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver	Car	Fastest lap	Split
1	17	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	1:02.1524
2	8	R&J Batteries Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.1643	0:00.0119
3	25	Mobil 1 Optus Racing	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.2249	0:00.0725
4	2	Mobil 1 NTI Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.2271	0:00.0747
5	97	Red Bull Ampol Racing	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.2580	0:00.1056
6	11	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	1:02.3350	0:00.1826
7	50	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	1:02.3528	0:00.2004
8	20	Nulon Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.5122	0:00.3598
9	14	Middy’s Electrical Racing	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.5384	0:00.3860
10	26	Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	1:02.5805	0:00.4281
11	88	Red Bull Ampol Racing	Broc Feeney	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.5819	0:00.4295
12	55	Castrol Racing	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	1:02.5882	0:00.4358
13	3	CoolDrive Auto Parts	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	1:02.6350	0:00.4826
14	10	Penrite Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	1:02.6596	0:00.5072
15	96	Kubota Racing	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.6678	0:00.5154
16	34	Truck Assist Racing	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.7014	0:00.5490
17	18	IRWIN Racing	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.7218	0:00.5694
18	99	Boost Mobile Racing by Erebus	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.7400	0:00.5876
19	56	Tradie Racing	Jake Kostecki	Ford Mustang GT	1:02.7552	0:00.6028
20	31	Subway PremiAir Racing	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.8380	0:00.6856
21	5	Snowy River Racing	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	1:02.8631	0:00.7107
22	9	Boost Mobile Racing by Erebus	William Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.8857	0:00.7333
23	35	Truck Assist Racing	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.8859	0:00.7335
24	4	SCT Logistics Racing	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	1:02.9579	0:00.8055
25	22	PremiAir Coca Cola Racing	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	1:03.0301	0:00.8777