Motorsport: SVG fires a new lap record in second practice session

Shane van Gisbergen during race 23 of the Supercars Gold Coast 600. Photo / Getty Images

Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen smashed the lap record at Pukekohe Park Raceway on the way to posting the fastest time in practice two at the ITM Auckland SuperSprint on Friday afternoon.

The New Zealander fired a lightning-fast lap of 1:02.4611s in warm and dry conditions in the second of three practice sessions Friday.

He holds a 148-point lead in the championship.

Ford's Mark Winterbottom was second quickest - .37s behind the Kiwi. The Nissan of Michael Caruso was third fastest while New Zealander Scott McLaughlin, who had a couple of trips of the race track, was fifth.

The session began with championship contender Jamie Whincup spectacularly losing control of his Red Bull Holden coming up over the hill on his first flying lap. He dropped all four tyres off the road and spun around on the wet grass but did incredibly well to keep the car off the walls.

James Courtney, Craig Lowndes, Nick Percat and David Reynolds all went off in the same spot but avoided major incident.

In the meantime, at the other end of the track, McLaughlin backed his Volvo into the tyre barrier at the entry to the back straight. He'd only just got the #33 car out of the corner when Will Davison followed him into the same set of tyres. McLaughlin's hit was fairly heavy but the damage was superficial and he continued throughout the rest of the session.

Two red flags disrupted the session - the first brought out to clean gravel off the circuit and the second to collect Holden driver Nick Percat who parked his car in the sand at the hairpin.

There is one final practice session later on Friday afternoon. The same format will be used on both days over the weekend with a morning qualifying session and two afternoon races.