Ipswich Supercars: Whincup fastest in first open practice

The start of the session was affected by weather, a brief rain shower leaving times stranded in the mid-1m10s for the first 10 minutes or so.

Not long after the 10-minute mark conditions started to improve, Craig Lowndes the first into the 1m09s with a 1m09.716s.

Two minutes later Rick Kelly and Scott McLaughlin engaged in a short battle over top spot. It started with Kelly going quickest with a 1m09.636s, McLaughlin jumping him immediately with a 1m09.617s, before Kelly went faster again on his next lap with a 1m09.515s.

It wasn't until later in the session that Kelly's time came under threat, Lowndes going within 0.05s with 10 minutes to go, before Michael Caruso almost matched Lowndes' time inside the final minute.

But ultimately it was a last-gasp effort from Whincup that finally knocked Kelly off, the Triple Eight driver banking a 1m09.390s on his final run.

Kelly, Lowndes and Caruso ended up second, third and fourth respectively, while David Reynolds was shuffled back to fifth with a lap that had initially put him second with a little over 10 minutes to go.

Scott McLaughlin did more laps than anyone on his way to sixth, slotting in a couple of hundredths ahead of Chaz Mostert. Fabian Coulthard was eighth quickest, Richie Stanaway second-best of the Tickford Fords in ninth, and Scott Pye rounding out the Top 10 in his Walkinshaw Holden.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	1	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.3904
2	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'09.5154	0.1250
3	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.5655	0.1751
4	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1'09.5673	0.1769
5	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.5932	0.2028
6	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG X	1'09.6173	0.2269
7	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG X	1'09.6317	0.2413
8	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG X	1'09.6667	0.2763
9	56	Richie Stanaway	Ford Falcon FG X	1'09.7519	0.3615
10	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.7801	0.3897
11	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.8000	0.4096
12	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.8222	0.4318
13	34	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.8451	0.4547
14	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.8879	0.4975
15	120	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG X	1'09.9321	0.5417
16	25	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.9698	0.5794
17	19	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.9999	0.6095
18	99	Anton de Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.0388	0.6484
19	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG X	1'10.0806	0.6902
20	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.1202	0.7298
21	7	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	1'10.1615	0.7711
22	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.1915	0.8011
23	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG X	1'10.2557	0.8653
24	35	Todd Hazelwood	Ford Falcon FG X	1'10.2741	0.8837
25	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1'10.3353	0.9449
26	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.4365	1.0461
27	42	Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1'12.5497	3.1593