Van Gisbergen leads Mostert in final Gold Coast practice

Shane van Gisbergen has fired the first big shot of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 with the quickest time in Friday practice.

The reigning champion clocked a 1:10.6673s to put nearly 0.2s on his closest rival, Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford star Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang).

Mostert jumped from sixth to second late on, with Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro) beating Practice 1 fast man Scott Pye (#20 Hino Camaro) to third.

Eight teams were represented in the top 10, with Cam Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) and James Courtney (#6 Snowy River Caravans Mustang) making it a Tickford Racing five-six.

Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro), Will Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro), James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro) and Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang) rounded out the top 10.

Championship leader Brodie Kostecki (#99 Coca-Cola Camaro) didn't fire a shot, coming home 12th and some 0.7s behind van Gisbergen. However, Erebus boss Barry Ryan suggested Kostecki backed off on his final lap, which may have vaulted the #99 towards the top.

Brown and future Triple Eight teammate Broc Feeney caught early trouble in the 30-minute session, which was preceded by rain. Feeney, who ended up 13th in the session, spun at the Turn 4 hairpin, with Brown following in sympathy.

Van Gisbergen didn't have a smooth run en route to P1, first running down the Turn 11 escape road before scraping the wall at Turn 13 after setting his flying lap.

Cars rolled out on slick tyres following the earlier rain, with Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) clocking a 1:12.6891s aboard the new Dick Johnson Racing wildcard chassis.

Waters turned up the wick in the opening minutes, first firing in a 1:11.5307s before recording a 1:11.2054s on his following lap.

Golding opened the bowling in the second runs, jumping to P2 with a 1:11.4679s before Mostert moved ahead with a 1:11.4570s.

Pye, who led the way in the morning session, moved to the top with a 1:11.0777s before Waters recorded consecutive 1:10.9746s and 1:10.9760s laps.

With seven minutes remaining, van Gisbergen put over 0.3s on the field with a 1:10.6673s, which proved faster than the corresponding session's fastest lap (Waters' 1:10.7215s) from 2022.

Kostecki was as low as 21st before moving to eighth, albeit 0.7417s off van Gisbergen's best lap. By session's end, Kostecki was 12th, with Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang) ahead in 11th.

As the chequered flag was unfurled, Mostert moved to second with a 1:10.8648s, with Le Brocq impressing to third with a 1:10.9596s. Pye and Waters were the only other drivers in the 1:10s bracket.

There was more frustration down at Tickford despite Waters and Courtney's pace, with Declan Fraser (#56 TRADIE Mustang) again stuck in the garage due to a power steering issue.

Supercars will return to the track on Saturday for ARMOR ALL Qualifying at 11:35am local time/12:05pm AEDT.