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Frosty leads the way

20 Nov 2015
Championship leader Mark Winterbottom tops second practice with closest competitors not far away at Phillip Island.

Championship leader Mark Winterbottom has topped the second practice session at the WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint, with his closest competitors not far away.

Braving mixed conditions at the Island, Winterbottom's 1min35.9504 was set early in the session on a hard Dunlop tyre, 0.1359sec ahead of earlier front-runner Scott Pye.

Jason Bright was third, and the only driver in the top five to set his best time on the wet weather tyre, with title fighters David Reynolds and Craig Lowndes fourth and fifth.

There were plenty of run-offs in the session -particularly for Lowndes - as the drivers tested the limits and conditions.

Most spent time in the garage mid-way through the session, waiting for conditions to change to get the most out of the testing time.

"When conditions are so inconsistent like this, we can't get a good enough read," Holden Racing Team's James Courtney explained in the garage mid-session.

"On our side of the garage we're trying to develop things and get a read on some of the wholesale changes ...the last thing we need today is to put the thing in the gravel or into a wall."

Courtney came home 24th, while his teammate Garth Tander managed the sixth fastest time, with Nissan's Rick Kelly, Erebus' Will Davison and Volvo's Scott McLaughlin ensuring all manufacturers featured in the top 10.

Click here for full results.

Injured Nick Percat ran again in the session and finished 21st.

Teams will have a quick 15-minute practice session tomorrow at the WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint before back-to-back qualifying at 12.45pm ADST and two 60km races to follow tomorrow afternoon.

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