Brown puts 0.48s on the field in wet-dry Practice 2

Will Brown has gapped the field by nearly half a second in an incident-packed wet-dry Practice 2 at the Thrifty Bathurst 500.

A late red flag triggered a flurry of fast laps on a drying track, with the #87 Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet fastest of all at Mount Panorama.

Brown, who has replaced Shane van Gisbergen at Triple Eight Race Engineering, turned in a 2:07.5507s at the chequered flag flew.

It was the only 2:07s lap of the session, with Erebus Motorsport recruit Todd Hazelwood — who was top of the time sheets before the red flag — second ahead of Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet).

Hazelwood, who is standing in for champion Brodie Kostecki, was initially fastest with a 2:09.7887s at Mount Panorama before Will Davison went off at pit entry.

Davison’s car was retrieved and the session went green with three minutes remaining, and Hazelwood’s time was under threat as the track rapidly improved.

Before the final flurry of times, the #99 TFH Hire Services Chevrolet was 0.1617s quicker than Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Ford), who recorded a 2:09.9504s before the final stoppage.

Several drivers improved, but Brown went quickest in the first and third sectors to leave his rivals for dust by the end of his first day as a Triple Eight driver.

Feeney, who topped Practice 1, led Payne, Nick Percat (#10 Bendix Chevrolet), Cam Waters (#6 Monster Energy Ford), and Macauley Jones (#96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet), with Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Chevrolet), Cameron Hill (#4 Tyrepower Chevrolet) and Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Ford) rounded out the top 10.

Richie Stanaway, whose #26 Penrite Mustang was repaired after a crash in Practice 1, clocked a 2:32.6368s when a red flag was called in the seventh minute.

The first stoppage was called after Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Ford) and David Reynolds (#20 TRADIE Beer Chevrolet) aquaplaned at The Chase, the latter clipping the concrete wall.

When the session resumed, Heimgartner set a 2:27.3846s before teammate Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy's Electrical Chevrolet) laid down a 2:26.5537s.

Fullwood would later clip the wall going through the Esses, but returned and ended up 14th.

Davison shifted the benchmark to a 2:26.3091s, before Heimgartner (2:24.9162s), Fullwood (2:24.6373s), and Feeney (2:23.9760s) all improved.

Both Walkinshaw Andretti United Fords spent time at the top before James Golding (#31 PremiAir Nulon Chevrolet) and teammate Tim Slade (#23 PremiAir Nulon Chevrolet) rose to the front.

Waters, who was slowest in Practice 1, moved to first with a 2:11.3347s with 11 minutes to go, before Hazelwood, Davison, and James Courtney (#7 Snowy River Caravans Ford) went to the top.

Hazelwood was first into the 2:09s before Davison ran off the track, setting up a blockbuster final stanza of the session.

Hazelwood set a 2:07.5507s before Brown set the ultimate pace, with the Queenslander’s time the best of the day.

Supercars will return to the track on Saturday for Qualifying at 10:20am local time.

The 10 fastest runners will secure entry into the Top Ten Shootout at 1:05pm, which sets the grid for Race 1, the first race of the Repco Supercars Championship.

Race 1 will commence at 4:10pm. The 40-lapper will be broadcast live on Foxtel, Kayo and the Seven Network. Tickets for the event are on sale now.