Christopher Mies set the fastest time of the day to date as Jamec Pem Racing’s #74 Audi continued to show the way in Practice 3 at the Bathurst 12 Hour.
The reigning Australian GT champion’s 2:03.50s best came with 15 of the session’s 90 minutes remaining, undercutting Warren Luff’s 2:03.79s from earlier this morning.
Mies’ entry was already at the top of the order when he joined the circuit thanks to an earlier effort from co-driver Christopher Haase.
Shane van Gisbergen put in a time good enough for second, 0.43s adrift of Mies’ ultimate benchmark, before handing over to Jonathon Webb for the closing stages.
Thomas Jaeger ensured the #36 Erebus Mercedes ended up third ahead of Tim Slade in the Objective McLaren and Rene Rast in the second of the Jamec Pem Audis.
Erebus’ #63 Mercedes returned to the track early in Practice 3 after repairs to the damage caused by Maro Engel’s incident at The Cutting in the opening hit-out.
Bernd Schneider did the bulk of the running in the car, ending up ninth fastest.
After uninterrupted green running throughout the morning, the third session brought a trio of red flags.
Nick Rowe suffered an early crash at Forrest’s Elbow that required a lengthy delay to recover the #94 MARC Mazda from the tyre wall.
A second stoppage ensued when Christer Joens deposited the #9 MPC Audi into the gravel at Hell Corner a short time later, while an issue for the #93 MARC Mazda saw another interruption with just four minutes remaining.
The day’s fourth and final practice session is set to get underway at 1545 local time.