Holden versus Ford – it doesn’t get much better than that for Supercars motorsport fans.
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And Friday’s two practice sessions for the Tasmanian Supersprint round at Symmons Plains delivered the traditional rivalry in spades.
Red Bull Holden Racing teammates Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen emerged the fastest taking the first and second practice session honours but not before some cut-throat competition from the Shell V-Power pair of Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard in their Fords.
Whincup recorded a 50.94 as fastest time in session 1, just pipping McLaughlin in the closing stages who got to within 0.14 of a second.
Whincup’s practice time bettering his 2014 qualifying record of 50.9676.
Van Gisbergen claimed third spot with Mobil 1 HSV’s Scott Pye fourth and Coulthard pushed back to fifth after he and DJR Penske teammate McLaughlin led the leaderboard for much of the 40-minute practice session.
Van Gisbergen and Coulthard had a ding-dong duel during practice 1 with the pair trading paint in the heat of battle at the infamous hairpin turn four.
“It was good fun,” Coulthard said about their on-track rivalry.
“Shane races fair and hard and that’s what it’s going to be like all year I think.”
Chaz Mostert survived a slide exiting the final turn to end up sixth ahead of Will Davison, Lee Holdsworth, Mark Winterbottom and Tim Slade.
In session 2 it was van Gisbergen who put down the fastest lap time of the day with a 50.800 from Coulthard on 50.8862, McLaughlin on 50.9552 and Whincup on 51.0428 – all four drivers recording the fastest lap times ever at Symmons Plains.
“We weren’t fully happy but we’ve got tomorrow to sort that,” van Gisbergen said.
“Today we progressed a lot, learned a lot about these tyres and feel pretty good.
“There was a bit of agro in that first one (contact with Coulthard in Practice 1), but on a short track like this, everyone is fighting for space.”
Reigning Symmons Plains Sunday winner Will Davison finished fifth fastest giving some encouragement for his Tekno Autosports team.
Nick Percat recovered from his Albert Park crash to claim sixth with Lee Holdsworth seventh with Mark Winterbottom, Craig Lowndes and Cameron Waters completing the top 10.
James Courtney bunkered his Mobil 1 HSV Racing Commodore in the turn 4 gravel during the second session interrupting proceedings with a red flag.
The Supercars will have a third and final practice session on Saturday morning before qualifying and the afternoon’s 120km race scheduled for 4.45pm over 50 laps.
