Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen has led the way in the two practice sessions at Sydney Motorsport Park ahead of qualifying for the Repco Supercars Championship SuperNight event.
A change of chassis has failed to stop the New Zealander as he set a 1m 30.494s to lead Truck Assist Racing’s Jack Le Brocq by 0.188s and the lead Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus Camaro of Brodie Kostecki.
Teammate Will Brown was fourth from the lead Ford Mustang of Mobil 1 Optus Racing’s Chaz Mostert, James Golding in the Nulon Racing Camaro, Red Bull Ampol Racing’s second entry of Broc Feeney and Andre Heimgartner in the R&J Batteries Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet was eighth.
Completing the top 10 were veterans Tim Slade in the second Nulon Racing Camaro and the Mobil 1 NTI Racing Mustang of Nick Percat.
Shell V-Power Racing Team’s two Mustangs struggled with steering problems.
Van Gisbergen again led the way in second practice by setting a 1m 29.913s to top the session by 0.195s from Heimgartner after a last gasp effort placed him second ahead of Kostecki, Le Brocq and Cameron Waters in the first Ford after his Monster Energy Racing entry endured a steering rack fault.
Mark Winterbottom was sixth for DEWALT Racing from Middy’s Racing driver Bryce Fullwood, championship leader Brown, Will Davison in the lead Shell V-Power Racing Team Mustang and Mostert.
Anton De Pasquale just missed the top 10 in 11th, Percat was 12th ahead of David Reynolds, Slade and Thomas Randle.
Feeney failed to set a respective lap time after his Camaro failed to fire leading to the team pushing to replace the starter motor.
Penrite Racing rookie Matt Payne also encountered gearbox problems in his Mustang.
The Repco Supercars Championship drivers return to the track for qualifying at 4:45pm AEST.