Ipswich Supercars: McLaughlin sets record pace in final practice

The Penske Mustang driver led the way in the early stages of the 30-minute session thanks to a 1m09.323s on his first flyer, before that time was overhauled by Tickford pair Will Davison and Chaz Mostert.

McLaughlin hit back on the 10-minute mark, breaking into the eights with a 1m08.922s on his second run.

He then returned with a fresh set of boots for the Happy Hour at the end of the session, a blistering 1m08.398s breaking his own unofficial lap record set back in 2017.

McLaughlin put the record-breaking pace down to a combination of his own driving, and a shift to a pointier set-up compared to Saturday.

"There's a bit of me, driving-wise. I had a big think overnight, just where I could improve and work the best," he said.

"The car, we needed to make it a little bit more lively for me. I don't mind it being sideways and whatever, I think it's going to help us in the race to have more turn.

"I don't care if we speedway it a little bit, if we can be a little bit loose and get me turned and pointed to go, it helps. That's certainly what we tried to do today."

Mostert ended up second, 0.23s adrift of McLaughlin, with Triple Eight drivers Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen fourth and fifth.

Will Davison kept his impressive weekend going with sixth, followed by Tickford teammate Cam Waters.

Anton De Pasquale was eighth, while two Nissans secured an automatic Q2 berth with Andre Heimgartner leading Rick Kelly.

Fabian Coulthard was left on the wrong side of the Q2 bubble, falling seven-tenths short of his teammate as he ended up 11th.

David Reynolds will need to go the long way too, the Erebus driver just 13th quickest.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Interval
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Mustang GT	1'08.3985
2	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Mustang GT	1'08.6346	0.2361	0.2361
3	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.6549	0.2564	0.0203
4	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.7449	0.3464	0.0900
5	5	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	1'08.8052	0.4067	0.0603
6	23	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	1'08.8261	0.4276	0.0209
7	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	1'08.8349	0.4364	0.0088
8	99	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	1'08.9428	0.5443	0.1079
9	7	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	1'08.9502	0.5517	0.0074
10	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'09.0435	0.6450	0.0933
11	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Mustang GT	1'09.0812	0.6827	0.0377
12	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.1335	0.7350	0.0523
13	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.1827	0.7842	0.0492
14	35	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.1983	0.7998	0.0156
15	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.3218	0.9233	0.1235
16	22	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.3436	0.9451	0.0218
17	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.4068	1.0083	0.0632
18	34	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.4154	1.0169	0.0086
19	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.4200	1.0215	0.0046
20	33	Michael Caruso	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.4222	1.0237	0.0022
21	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1'09.4826	1.0841	0.0604
22	21	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1'09.5378	1.1393	0.0552
23	3	Garry Jacobson	Nissan Altima	1'09.9178	1.5193	0.3800
24	19	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.6256	2.2271	0.7078