Whincup breaks record to top final practice

Jamie Whincup became the first Supercars driver to lap the Surfers Paradise street circuit in the 1:09s bracket to top Friday practice at the Vodafone Gold Coast 600.

Whincup, who is bidding to recover a 91-point deficit to championship leader Fabian Coulthard, recorded his 1:09.9179s with two of the 30 minutes remaining.

It is marginally below the 1:10.0480s practice benchmark held by David Reynolds since 2013.

The session was punctuated by two red flags, the first to realign the Turn 15 tyre bundle, and the second to recover James Moffat’s crashed Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden.

Moffat clipped the inside wall at Turn 11, which shot him into the outside tyre wall, causing considerable damage to the right-front corner of the Commodore.

go past us, we were trying to get out of the way and Alex decides to come around on the racing line and give me a t-bone.”