Scott Pye continued his strong weekend in front of team owner Roger Penske by topping Sunday morning practice at Pukekohe.
The 15 minute run gave teams a final chance to fine tune their cars ahead of a 20 minute qualifying session that will set the grid for Race 30.
Pye set a best of 1:03.3s on his final lap to end up 0.5s clear of Will Davison's Erebus Mercedes.
“We made some changes yesterday in the second race,” said Pye, who took a fifth and an eighth from the Saturday races.
“We felt we had a much better car but we didn't have track position.
“We made another change overnight and that has been positive too. I think we're in a good position for qualifying.”
Scott McLaughlin, Ash Walsh, Jason Bright and Michael Caruso completed the top six in a session heavily affected by tyre condition.
Lowndes was seventh aboard his rebuilt Red Bull Holden, giving the car a clean bill of health despite the rushed repairs.
“It feels alright, the guys have done a remarkable job,” said Lowndes.
“The car went out without any vibration with the steering wheel straight and is reasonably quick.
“It has good front (grip), we are still searching a little bit for the rear but I'm really happy with where it is at considering at 6am it was still having its last nuts and bolts put together. It's a credit to the team.”
Result: V8 Supercars ITM 500 Auckland Practice 4
1 | DJR Team Penske | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:03.3143 | |
2 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Will Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:03.8559 | 00.5416 |
3 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 1:03.8748 | 00.5605 |
4 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Ashley Walsh | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:03.9778 | 00.6635 |
5 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 1:03.9842 | 00.6699 |
6 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1:04.0555 | 00.7412 |
7 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.0635 | 00.7492 |
8 | Team Darrell Lea STIX | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.1553 | 00.8410 |
9 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.1762 | 00.8619 |
10 | Pepsi Max Crew | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:04.1965 | 00.8822 |
11 | Nissan Motorsport | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | 1:04.1983 | 00.8840 |
12 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.2056 | 00.8913 |
13 | Super Black Racing | Andre Heimgartner | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:04.2653 | 00.9510 |
14 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.3179 | 01.0036 |
15 | Freightliner Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.3318 | 01.0175 |
16 | Team Cooldrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.3401 | 01.0258 |
17 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.3405 | 01.0262 |
18 | Nissan Motorsport | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:04.3430 | 01.0287 |
19 | Nissan Motorsport | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:04.3689 | 01.0546 |
20 | Pepsi Max Crew | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:04.3871 | 01.0728 |
21 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.3887 | 01.0744 |
22 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:04.3947 | 01.0804 |
23 | Walkinshaw Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.4404 | 01.1261 |
24 | GB Galvanizing Racing | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 1:04.5730 | 01.2587 |
25 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | David Wall | Volvo S60 | 1:04.5831 | 01.2688 |