McLaughlin leads practice as Team 18 shines ahead of qualifying

Championship leader Scott McLaughlin has led the way as the Supercars field heads in to qualifying ahead of this weekend’s Darwin SuperSprint after the DJR Team Penske driver topped the final practice session.

Though hotter running this weekend has meant a change in track conditions compared to the last round, the #17 car was able to clock a 1:06.2487 around Hidden Valley Raceway in Practice 2, just under a tenth ahead of the Team 18 cars of Mark Winterbottom and Scott Pye.

It was a good start to Saturday running for Pye, the one-time race winner ending up top of the timesheets with a time faster than McLaughlin in the second session, only one-tenth clear of local boy Bryce Fullwood who put his Walkinshaw Andretti United car into position two.

Almost all of the Tickford Racing cars were able to squeeze into the top ten of practice one with Lee Holdsworth, Cam Waters and Jack Le Brocq ending up third, fourth and seventh respectively.

The only drama from the opening session came in the form of a slow-speed spin from Jack Smith, the rookie going around at the hairpin where his Brad Jones Racing team-mates came to grief in last weekend’s races.

McLaughlin was quick to go fastest in the second session, posting his time well before the end of the 30 minutes. Though he had an opportunity to extend his margin in the closing laps, a mistake put pay to that idea, meaning his first lap stood as the fastest.

Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup was able to break up the DJR Team Penske and Team 18 party in the top five after posting a time good enough for fourth as McLaughlin’s team-mate Fabian Coulthard managed to squeeze home in fifth place on the time sheets.

Qualifying for the opening race begins at 1125 local time with the race itself going green at 1350 for 38 laps.