Walls puts Triple Eight on top at home in final Friday hit-out
Jackson Walls resets practice/qualifying lap record in Practice 2
Triple Eight rookie makes most of pre-event test day
Session twice interrupted by offs at Turn 6
Jackson Walls has ended Friday as the man to beat in the Dunlop Super2 Series after setting an impressive benchmark in Practice 2 at the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440.
The Triple Eight rookie made the most of a test day at Queensland Raceway held last Monday, and set a 1:09.2467 to move the practice lap record set by Cameron McLeod in Practice 1 by half a second.
Walls, who is also the top rookie in the standings, finished the twice interrupted session just over a tenth of a second ahead of Reuben Goodall, with Nash Morris rounding out the top three.
The interruptions almost bookended the session, with Jordyn Sinni and Mason Kelly both becoming beached in the Turn 6 gravel, with the latter incident ending the session two minutes early.
After a gloomy and initially damp opening practice, the sun appeared for the beginning of Practice 2, with Zach Bates jumping back into his #1 Commodore after starring in the opening Repco Supercars Championship practice.
Bates went straight out and set a 1:10.2062 to head Practice 1 pacesetter McLeod by just 0.032s before proceedings were briefly halted.
Immediately following the Sinni red flag eight and a half minutes into the session, Kelly launched to the top of the charts on a 1:10.1943 in the sister Kelly Racing-prepared Mustang to McLeod.
Max Geoghegan also fired off at Turn 6 but was able to drag himself out of the gravel, seconds before Matt Hillyer had a massive lockup at Turn 3 and fired into the gravel.
Brad Vaughan was the next to go fastest in the #80 Commodore for Brad Jones Racing, and was the first into the 1:09's on a 1:09.9853.
Qualifying simulations began in earnest in the final 15 minutes, and times tumbled as the field bolted on fresh tyres with an eye to the following two days.
At session's end, 11 drivers finished with times under McLeod's Practice 1 record, whilst 16 drivers finished the session under Scott Pye's former record from 2012.
McLeod finished the session fourth on a 1:09.3665, some four tenths faster than he went this morning, with Bailey Sweeny rounding out the top five on a 1:09.5144.
The top 10 was rounded out by Rylan Gray, who also had an off at Turn 6, Sinni, Elliott Cleary, Bates, and Ben Gomersall.
Boost Mobile Qualifying for the opening race of the weekend begins at 9:00am AEST, before the opening race of Round 4 begins at 2:45pm AEST.
