Heimgartner narrowly leads Wood and Brown in Darwin

Andre Heimgartner has denied Ryan Wood a Friday practice double at the betr Darwin Triple Crown in a strong showing for Brad Jones Racing.

All four BJR Chevrolets finished Practice 2 in the top 10, with Heimgartner just 0.0654s ahead of Wood. Reigning champion Will Brown was third, just 0.0657s down.

Championship leader Broc Feeney was eighth, 0.2399s off the pace, with eight Camaros and two Mustangs in the top 10 after a late flurry of times, some drivers delayed by traffic.

In a sign of what could be a tight and competitive weekend, the entire 25-car field was covered by just 0.6839s.

"It's been good, it obviously doesn't mean anything, but it's nice to come here after the last couple of rounds from my side. We've just really struggled with just the speed in qualifying and being able to make it click and make it work," said Heimgartner, who is ninth in the points.

"Obviously you don't get any points today, but it's nice that I was up there. and I think that Bryce [Fullwood] was up there as well, so it's good that we're starting to get a bit of momentum, and things seem to be alright today, so hopefully we can be repeat it tomorrow."

The ambient temperature had reached 31 degrees once cars rolled out for Practice 2, and it was Cam Waters who lit up the time sheets early with a 1:07.2883s.

That number was lowered to a 1:07.2392s by Cameron Hill, who returned to the lane after the passenger side door opened on the #4 Supaglass Chevrolet midway around his in-lap.

Through the opening runs, Hill led Thomas Randle, Anton De Pasquale and Waters, with Bryce Fullwood, James Courtney, Heimgartner, Brodie Kostecki, David Reynolds and Jack Le Brocq rounding out the top 10. Feeney and Brown were 14th and 15th, with Mostert 19th.

Waters returned to the top of the time sheets with a 1:07.1701s through 11 minutes, before Wood turned up the wick and launched to top spot with a 1:07.0740s. At the 16-minute mark, Super Soft-shod rookie Cooper Murray jumped up to second with a 1:07:1547s.

Hill became the latest driver to run off at Turn 1 with 10 minutes to go, before James Golding found the grass through the final sequence of corners.

Jaxon Evans jumped up with a 1:07.0617s, with Super Soft runner Kai Allen first moving to ninth, and then third. Brown and Feeney were 13th and 16th, with Chaz Mostert 20th.

In the closing minutes, Randle and Wood traded fastest Sector 1 times, with Waters leading his teammate. In a flurry of times, Reynolds, Brown and Wood all held top spot, with Waters returning to fourth, and Feeney jumping to sixth.

Wood loomed to go even quicker before missing out in the final sector, before countryman Heimgartner went quickest of all with a 1:06.6309s.

Brown, Reynolds, Fullwood, Waters, De Pasquale, Feeney, Evans and Macauley Jones rounded out the top 10, with Mostert 12th, Matt Payne 13th and Kostecki 14th.

Supercars action resumes on Saturday with dual Boost Mobile Qualifying from 8:35am local time/9:05am AEST. Race 17 will commence at 11:45am local/12:15pm AEST, followed by Race 18 at 3:10pm local/3:40pm AEST.