David Reynolds has smashed the record time he set earlier today, clocking a 1min06.7307 and leading the way in the second practice session of the SKYCITY Triple Crown Darwin.
It is the first time a driver has dipped into the ‘06’ bracket, with his earlier lap a 1min07.2893.
The next two drivers followed suit in practice two, with Mark Winterbottom just 0.08sec behind the Bottle-O FG X, and form qualifier Chaz Mostert finishing fourth, pipped by Brad Jones Racing’s Fabian Coulthard in the last minute on track.
“Really happy,” Reynolds said.
“But a bit disconcerting on the hard tyre… we swung the pendulum the other way to suit the soft tyre, but we’ve got to find a few tenths on the hard tyre.”
Reynolds said the balance was not quite there yet.
The Bottle-O racer suffered from issues with the front splitter in the first session, and second placed Winterbottom confirmed the speed on the recently resurfaced track is creating small issues for the teams.
“It felt pretty good in the car, the track is so much quicker – everyone’s talking about it, it’s awesome to drive on – but everyone’s a lot quicker and it’s created a few things to work on,” Winterbottom said.
“The car’s good when you can brake hard and really attack the corners… that’s why I want to race V8 Supercars, to push it to the limit…
“It’s very quick but there’s a grip limit and if you go over the limit you’re going to pay the price.
“Stay 99.9 per cent and you’re laughing, go 100.01 and she’s an issue. It’s going to be really good racing because you can fire in under brakes and stop the car – and that’s what you want. So it’s awesome they invest in the track and we reap the rewards.”
The session was red flagged midway after a grassfire caught, but the V8 Supercars were back in action in a matter of minutes.
Behind Mostert was Nissan’s James Moffat, Holden’s James Courtney and Jamie Whincup, with Erebus’ Ash Walsh eighth and Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin 10th, seeing all five manufactures in the top 10.
Marcos Ambrose got behind the wheel of the DJR Team Penske Falcon for another five laps, and recorded the top time early on. However once Scott Pye took over and the session played out the #17 was 23rd.
Click here for full session results.
The V8 Supercars action kicks off tomorrow at 9.25am EST.
