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Phillip Island Supercars: Coulthard fastest, Whincup misses Q2

Fabian Coulthard led a Ford Mustang top three in second Supercars practice at Phillip Island, while Jamie Whincup will need to go the long way in qualifying tomorrow.

Fabian Coulthard, DJR Team Penske

Fabian Coulthard, DJR Team Penske

Supercars

Mustangs dominated the session, all six in the field set to sit out Q1 tomorrow after landing in the Top 10.

There is a handful of top Holden drivers who will need to go through all three segments of qualifying, however, with Whincup, David Reynolds and Mark Winterbottom all falling short of the cut-off.

Tickford's Chaz Mostert made a rapid start to the session, going quickest with a 1m31.668s on his first flyer before improving to a 1m31.658s on his second.

Moments later Nick Percat moved to top spot thanks to a 1m31579s, before being replaced by Reynolds' 1m31.554s right on the 10-minute mark, the Erebus star then lowering the benchmark to a 1m31.491s on his next lap.

With 12 minutes gone McLaughlin made his first appearance in P1, the reigning series champ storming to the top with a 1m31.367s.

There was a brief pause in proceedings with 10 minutes to go, wild geese wandering onto the track sparking a red flag for the second time today.

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At that point there were some big names facing Q1, with Winterbottom, Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen all well outside the Top 10.

Whincup swiftly did his best to rectify that, going quickest with a 1m31.237s with six minutes to go.

Then, with a couple of minutes to go the green tyre runs started, McLaughlin first across the line with a 1m30.186s.

He was immediately beaten by teammate Fabian Coulthard's 1m30.180s, leaving the Penske pair more than a second clear of the rest of the field.

That gap did shrink as the rest of the field finished their green tyre runs, Cam Waters getting to within three tenths, but nobody could topple the two Penske drivers.

“It’s good that we’ve got two fast cars, that’s the main thing,” said Coulthard.

“It’s hard to know really where you’re at when the Triple Eight Holdens are not there. We’ll go through everything tonight and see if we can make it better.

“This is one of those tracks where if you find a little bit you find a lot. I’m not 100 per cent happy, I don’t think you ever are."

Waters' lap made it a Mustang top three, Rick Kelly the best of the non-Fords with the fourth quickest time in his Nissan.

Will Davison and Lee Holdsworth made it five Mustangs in the top six, while second-year young guns Anton De Pasquale and Todd Hazelwood were, somewhat surprisingly, the best of the Holdens in seventh and eighth.

Chaz Mostert ensured all six Mustangs will miss Q1 tomorrow, while van Gisbergen suck into the Top 10 on his final lap.

Van Gisbergen's late improvement was bad news for teammate Whincup, who got knocked down to 11th as a result.

“Disappointed. We wanted to be in the 10, we pushed pretty hard,” said the seven-time series champ.

“I’m only a hundredth behind my teammate, so that sucks, he just knocked me out at the end there. That’s the way it goes, we’ll keep fighting on. We’ve got Todd Hazelwood up there in my car from last year.

“Those guys are doing a better job than we are at the moment so we’ll have to pull our finger out.”

Reynolds and Winterbottom will also need to go the long way in qualifying, ending up just 14th and 18th quickest respectively.

Cla # Driver Car Time Gap
1 12 New Zealand Fabian Coulthard Ford Mustang GT 1'30.1807  
2 17 New Zealand Scott McLaughlin Ford Mustang GT 1'30.1867 0.0060
3 6 Australia Cameron Waters Ford Mustang GT 1'30.4468 0.2661
4 15 Australia Rick Kelly Nissan Altima L33 1'30.6026 0.4219
5 23 Australia Will Davison Ford Mustang GT 1'30.6405 0.4598
6 5 Australia Lee Holdsworth Ford Mustang GT 1'30.8024 0.6217
7 99 Australia Anton De Pasquale Holden Commodore ZB 1'30.8264 0.6457
8 35 Australia Todd Hazelwood Holden Commodore ZB 1'30.8693 0.6886
9 55 Australia Chaz Mostert Ford Mustang GT 1'30.9034 0.7227
10 97 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore ZB 1'30.9338 0.7531
11 88 Australia Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore ZB 1'30.9440 0.7633
12 8 Australia Nick Percat Holden Commodore ZB 1'30.9674 0.7867
13 7 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner Nissan Altima L33 1'31.0118 0.8311
14 9 Australia David Reynolds Holden Commodore ZB 1'31.1263 0.9456
15 14 Australia Tim Slade Holden Commodore ZB 1'31.2940 1.1133
16 200 Australia Scott Pye Holden Commodore ZB 1'31.4111 1.2304
17 34 Australia James Golding Holden Commodore ZB 1'31.5295 1.3488
18 18 Australia Mark Winterbottom Holden Commodore ZB 1'31.5776 1.3969
19 3 Garry Jacobson Nissan Altima L33 1'31.6538 1.4731
20 22 Australia James Courtney Holden Commodore ZB 1'31.7471 1.5664
21 33 New Zealand Richie Stanaway Holden Commodore ZB 1'31.7893 1.6086
22 19 Australia Jack Le Brocq Holden Commodore ZB 1'31.7934 1.6127
23 78 Switzerland Simona de Silvestro Nissan Altima L33 1'31.8609 1.6802
24 21 Australia Macauley Jones Holden Commodore ZB 1'33.0155 2.8348

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