Motorsport: Scott McLaughlin rues his mistake in Supercars practice at Pukekohe

Scott McLaughlin escaped injury when he crashed during practice at Pukekohe yesterday. Photo / Edge Photographics

A small error by Supercars championship leader Scott McLaughlin underlined the high level of stress he and title rival Shane van Gisbergen are dealing with at this weekend's penultimate round of the series in Pukekohe.

Kiwi McLaughlin put his Shell V-Power Ford into the tyre wall during yesterday's second practice session and brought out a red flag, ensuring he could take no further part in the session and creating a lot of work for his team in the process.

The 25-year-old takes a 14-point lead into today's race and made a promising start to the weekend by posting the fastest time in the morning session.

Early in the afternoon session, he went too fast on the run to the back straight and ended up in the tyre wall and was forced to watch van Gisbergen and his Triple Eight Racing teammates continue to improve their cars.

"I just lost the rear and I was a passenger," McLaughlin said. "Just trying to find a little bit more of a driving thing that I've been working on going into there, but just overstepped the mark. It was completely my fault.

"Sorry to everyone at Shell V-Power Racing - I've given them a whole lot of work they didn't need but I'll give myself a kick up the arse and come back [today].

"I can't do much about it now - I made a mistake and I have to own it and get on with it but I am just disappointed in myself."

The Red Bull Holden of Jamie Whincup set the fastest time of the day.

David Reynolds was second in the Erebus Holden and Mark Winterbottom third, fresh off announcing he would be leaving Tickford Racing at the end of the season.

Whincup has vowed to assist van Gisbergen find the right set-up for the sister car and yesterday would have been a huge help.

The track surface was a talking point for the second year running. In 2017, the tarmac had just been relaid and there was a film on the top that saw water pool with rain.

Whincup feels that won't be an issue this year but the track is quite different to a year ago and that means quite a big set-up change.

"The car was strong and we're in a good place," Whincup said. "There has been a resurfacing, which is nice. That issue we had down the back straight looks gone.

"We're all trying to run our green tyres as long as possible and they were pretty shagged by the end of it, so that's when mistakes happen."

The signs were positive for McLaughlin before his drama - he and teammate compatriot Fabian Coulthard looked fast on the hard tyre being used at Pukekohe Park this weekend, despite his team struggling to be as dominant on that compound as they have been all season on the soft.

McLaughlin will get another chance to tinker with his set-up with practice this morning before qualifying early afternoon.

Kiwi Andre Heimgartner and Todd Hazelwood also brought out the red flag later in the session.

Today there will be a 20-minute morning practice session before a 20-minute qualifying session and a 70-lap race starting at 4.10pm.

A second 70-lap race is tomorrow. The title will be decided at the season finale in Newcastle at the end of the month.