Mustangs set early pace in Supercars practice at The Bend
Supercars series leader Scott McLaughlin and Ford Mustangs have dominated Friday practice sessions at The Bend ahead of this weekend’s OTR SuperSprint.
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THE car – rather than the track – is making all the difference this year at The Bend, says the fastest ever Supercar driver at the category’s newest racetrack.
Shell V-Power Racing’s Scott McLaughlin set a new practice lap record by about half a second in his Ford Mustang in the latter of two practice sessions for Supercars held at the OTR SuperSprint on Friday.
McLaughlin has dominated the Supercars field this year, winning 14 of the 20 races held, and looks set to continue on his merry way at South Australia’s newest racetrack.
McLaughlin said a lot of hard work had been done behind the scenes by the team to find a good set-up and balance, after a poor showing by the team’s standards at the inaugural race in 2018.
His time of 1:48.1 compared to Jamie Whincup’s, set last year, of 1:48.6.
McLaughlin said his laps felt “a little bit different” to last year’s but a faster track – that had been expected as the surface has had a year to bed in – was not the predominant cause.
“The car has really different balance,” he said.
“I’ve gone from not liking it to liking it a bit more.”
McLaughlin said the team had focused on lap speed in the practice sessions by working on a qualifying set-up, rather than creating a car suited to a longer race.
Race pace would be the focus for Saturday morning’s final practice session.
“I really wanted to come here and have a good crack at it,” he said.
But it was not just McLaughlin flying the flag for Ford.
The other four drivers in the top five were behind the wheel of a Mustang – Chaz Mostert, Cam Waters, Fabian Coulthard and Lee Holdsworth.
The next fastest make – the Holden Commodore of David Reynolds – was sixth, followed by the Nissan Altima of Rick Kelly in seventh.
Even wildcard driver Thomas Randle finished practice two as the 10th fastest car in his first outing at The Bend track, in a Mustang prepared by Tickford Racing.
He himself said the result was “unbelievable”.
“I’m still a million miles away from (McLaughlin),” he said of his 1:49.3223 time.
“To end in the 10 is fantastic.”
South Australian driver Tim Slade was second-fastest in his Holden Commodore in practice one and 14th fastest at the end of practice two, the best of the croweaters, and one position ahead of his fellow SA teammate Nick Percat.
Supercars will have one more practice session Saturday morning before qualifying at 12.35pm for the first race of the weekend fires off the grid at 3.25pm.
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