Le Brocq splits Erebus in final practice

BRODIE Kostecki has completed a practice cleansweep at Symmons Plains, putting himself in the box seat to continue his championship charge.

Kostecki denied Matt Stone Racing a rare session-topping result as Jack Le Brocq shone throughout Practice 2.

Erebus Motorsport were the early pacesetters, with Will Brown leading from Kostecki.

Le Brocq then put MSR on top for the bulk of the half-hour session, first with a 51.4041s and then a 51.2434s.

At the halfway point, the order ran Le Brocq, Mark Winterbottom, Broc Feeney, James Golding and Cameron Hill in fifth.

Shane van Gisbergen moved up to second, a mere 0.0203s off Le Brocq, shortly before full qualifying simulations began.

Cam Waters had threatened to shoot to the top after setting purple times through the first two sectors before the end of his fast lap was compromised.

There was a scary moment for his teammate James Courtney, who ran way off at Turn 6 after having to dodge a weaving David Reynolds, who visited the Tickford Racing garage post-session to apologise.

Just seconds before the chequered flag flew, Kostecki moved into first place with a 51.1721s.

Brown briefly made it an Erebus one-two before Le Brocq improved to a 51.1911s, just 0.0190s adrift, to split the Coca-Cola Camaros.

Thomas Randle (fourth) was the only Mustang in the top nine, although Waters in particular should have been near the top if not for his issue.

Winterbottom, van Gisbergen, Golding, Feeney, Tim Slade and Todd Hazelwood finished fifth through 10th.

Feeney had been late to leave the pitlane at the end of the session after having trouble to fire up the #88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro.

The news was worse for Dick Johnson Racing, with Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale down in 22nd and 25th.

De Pasquale only managed nine laps due to a mechanical failure.

“Broke something in the driveline it seems,” he said.

“I was pulling gears down the back and she was all neutrals so I couldn’t quite roll to the garage, so the boys are having a look at it.”

DJR team principal Ben Croke later clarified the source of the issue.

“It has broken the centre out of the clutch, so the clutch hub that drives from the back of the engine basically to the driveshaft, it has torn the centre completely out of that,” he said.

“It’s a really weird one. It’s going back together now so pretty confident we’ll get back out for quali.”

The other matter of note was light contact at Turn 2 between Andre Heimgartner and Declan Fraser, an incident which was put under investigation.

Next up is qualifying, which will run to a three-part format starting 12:55pm AEST.

Results: Practice 2, Ned Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint

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