Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup topped the second Friday practice session in Newcastle, shading Cam Waters by 0.005s.
The seven-time series champion needed two cracks on his final run, his first qualifying simulation ruined when he ran wide at Turn 11.
But his fresh Dunlop rubber was up for a second lap, Whincup pipping Tickford driver Waters by five-thousandths courtesy of a 1m10.317s.
“It’s a tough little circuit and that’s all part of the challenge,” he said.
“My car didn’t feel that flash then on good tyres, but it’s clearly quick. I think we’ve got some work to do tomorrow, but for Practice 2, we’ll take it.
“I think our drive is okay, we’re just struggling with a bit of turn. We’ll work on getting [the car] to turn through that change of direction a little bit faster.
“If we can do that, I think we’ll improve for tomorrow.”
Waters had set his time just seconds earlier, finally disposing long-time pacesetter Shane van Gisbergen off top spot.
Van Gisbergen hung on to third despite his lap coming much earlier in the session, followed by fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin and Erebus star David Reynolds.
That latter caused the only red flag in the half-hour session, a trip down the Turn 1 escape road followed by a comical attempt to find reverse gear and get going again.
“It’s pretty embarrassing, isn’t it?” he said. “I looked like a goose down there. I couldn’t get reverse, I had to turn the car off. It’s not my finest hour.
“I can’t believe I’m a tenth off and I’m only fifth, it’s very, very close. If I fix up Turn 1 I think we’ll be further up the front. My car is not too bad, we just made a few adjustments then and there’s more to come I think.”
Mark Winterbottom and James Courtney were sixth and seventh, Fabian Coulthard, Todd Hazelwood and Lee Holdsworth completing the Top 10.
Super sub Warren Luff, meanwhile, was 21st fastest, the enduro regular making an unexpected appearance in place of Scott Pye, who was hospitalised with illness between sessions.
Practice 2 results:
| Cla | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jamie Whincup Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’10.317 | |
| 2 | Cameron Waters Michael Caruso | Ford Mustang GT | 1’10.322 | 0.005 |
| 3 |  Shane van Gisbergen Garth Tander | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’10.377 | 0.060 |
| 4 | Scott McLaughlin  Alexandre Prémat | Ford Mustang GT | 1’10.383 | 0.066 |
| 5 | David Reynolds Luke Youlden | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’10.423 | 0.106 |
| 6 | Mark Winterbottom Steven Richards | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’10.424 | 0.107 |
| 7 | James Courtney Jack Perkins | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’10.445 | 0.128 |
| 8 | Fabian Coulthard Tony D’Alberto | Ford Mustang GT | 1’10.447 | 0.130 |
| 9 | Todd Hazelwood  Jack Smith | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’10.528 | 0.211 |
| 10 | Lee Holdsworth Thomas Randle | Ford Mustang GT | 1’10.572 | 0.254 |
| 11 | Anton De Pasquale Will Brown | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’10.574 | 0.256 |
| 12 | Nick Percat Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’10.605 | 0.288 |
| 13 | Chaz Mostert James Moffat | Ford Mustang GT | 1’10.632 | 0.314 |
| 14 | Tim Slade Ash Walsh | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’10.694 | 0.377 |
| 15 | Andre Heimgartner Bryce Fullwood | Nissan Altima | 1’10.704 | 0.387 |
| 16 | Richie Stanaway Chris Pither | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’10.771 | 0.454 |
| 17 | Rick Kelly Dale Wood | Nissan Altima | 1’10.824 | 0.506 |
| 18 | Will Davison Alex Davison | Ford Mustang GT | 1’10.888 | 0.571 |
| 19 | Garry Jacobson Dean Fiore | Nissan Altima | 1’10.905 | 0.588 |
| 20 | Macauley Jones Dean Canto | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’10.920 | 0.602 |
| 21 | Scott Pye Warren Luff | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’11.068 | 0.751 |
| 22 | Jack Le Brocq Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’11.102 | 0.785 |
| 23 |  Simona de Silvestro Alex Rullo | Nissan Altima | 1’11.102 | 0.785 |
| 24 | James Golding Richard Muscat | Holden Commodore ZB | 1’11.430 | 1.113 |
| View full results | ||||
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