McLaughlin smashes lap record

Scott McLaughlin has reduced the lap record at Phillip Island by 0.21sec in practice two this afternoon.

The Volvo driver was quick throughout the hour session, but it was his late 1min30.3918sec lap that made him the man of the match, eclipsing the 1min30.6099 set by Mark Winterbottom in 2013. 

The top three was a Kiwi lockout with DJR Team Penske’s Fabian Coulthard 0.63sec adrift in second and Red Bull’s Shane van Gisbergen also delivering quick times at the WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint.

McLaughlin was on the podium in all three races here last year and won in 2014 when Garth Tander’s Commodore ran out of fuel at the end of the race.

“The temp is pretty good for that sot of stuff,” McLaughlin said when informed of the record.

“The car’s great, the boys are doing a great job, we stuck to the plan.

“I wish it was qualifying, but oh well.”

Coulthard said McLaughlin’s time proved they still had some work to do at DJR Team Penske.

“It’s impressive, obviously that car’s pretty hooked up around here and we’ve got work to do,” he said.

The Nissans looked speedy throughout the session with Michael Caruso leading for a time and Rick Kelly featuring and dropping to fourth in the final run.

There were plenty of offs at turn two, and for the Erebus cars with David Reynolds flying off-track at turn one and Aaren Russell over the hill at Lukey Heights.

Championship leader Will Davison came home fifth, with James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom close behind.

Click here for full results.

The V8 Supercars hit the track for the final practice session tomorrow at 1.55pm local time.