Following on from Practice 1 that saw Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney top the times and Ryan Wood emerge as the fastest Kiwi, the field returned to Queensland Raceway for the second and final practice of the weekend.
Tickford Racing and Grove Racing were aiming to recover from their slow start in Practice 1, while wildcards Zach Bates and Cameron Crick carried strong momentum after both finishing inside the top five earlier in the day.
Feeney wasted no time setting the early benchmark, posting a 1:09.763 – around half a second slower than his Practice 1 best. Chaz Mostert briefly took over the top spot with a 1:09.361 before Will Brown edged ahead by just 0.012 seconds.
His lead was short-lived, however, as Feeney reclaimed P1 on his third lap with purple sectors in the final two splits.
The Grove Racing pair of Matt Payne and Kai Allen made early strides, climbing to fourth and fifth on the timesheets. Allen’s lap was just over two-tenths quicker than Payne’s, a marked improvement on their 19th and 24th places from the earlier session.
After the first run of flying laps, Wood again led the Kiwi charge in sixth, followed by Payne in eighth. Andre Heimgartner sat 12th, Richie Stanaway 15th, and Jaxon Evans 19th, with 25 minutes still on the clock.
Anton De Pasquale continued his strong weekend form by moving to the top with a 1:09.250, 0.079 seconds quicker than Feeney. But Wood hit back, first going fastest with a 1:09.230 before improving again to a 1:09.076, capitalising on the rookie tyre allocation for an extra fresh set.
Halfway standings: Wood, Feeney, De Pasquale, Brown, Mostert, Courtney, Brodie Kostecki, Hill, Payne, and Allen. Heimgartner remained 12th, Stanaway 16th, and Evans 23rd.
In the closing stages, the times tumbled. Aaron Cameron went second fastest, just 0.034s behind Wood, before Stanaway leapt from 14th to sixth, only a tenth off the lead pace.
Cooper Murray then went P2 by 0.033s despite a wild moment exiting the final corner.
Mostert reclaimed top spot with a lap 0.061s faster than Wood, but Brown hit back with a 1:08.791 to go quickest by more than two-tenths. Feeney made it a Triple Eight 1–2 with a 1:08.714, before Brown responded with purple sectors across the board to set the day’s best – a 1:08.492.
Wildcard Bates impressed with third fastest, four-tenths off Brown’s pace. The session ended with a Triple Eight lockout with Brown on top and Feeney second. Wood was the fastest Kiwi in both practice sessions, just two-tenths shy of Brown’s benchmark.
The final top 10: Brown, Feeney, Bates, Kostecki, Allen, Courtney, Bates, Jones, De Pasquale, and Mostert – all covered by just over four-tenths of a second.
It was a tougher run for the other Kiwis, with Payne 21st, Heimgartner 22nd, Stanaway 23rd, and Evans 26th, the latter a second off the pace.
Qualifying gets underway tomorrow at 11:35am to set the grids for Races 23 and 24.
Header Image: Walkinshaw Andretti United
