DJR Team Penske returned to the top of the timesheets as Scott McLaughlin set a record pace in the final practice session of the CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway.
The New Zealander held the top spot for the majority of the 45-minute session, which was held in much cooler ambient conditions compared to Friday.
McLaughlin posted a 1:06.06s to dislodge early pacesetter Rick Kelly before going on to lower his benchmark to an impressive new practice record of 1:05.56s in the final minutes.
“The track's a little bit cooler than it probably will be in qualifying or yesterday, so we were quite lucky there,” said McLaughlin.
“The car was great and ran on a set of tyres there just to have a good feel for qualifying and it went down okay.”
A late showing from Erebus Motorsport's David Reynolds saw him climb to second in the final moments, just 0.17s adrift of McLaughlin.
Michael Caruso occupied third as Nissan Motorsport displayed an improvement on the pace it displayed yesterday.
Craig Lowndes emerged as the top Triple Eight runner in fourth ahead of championship leader Fabian Coulthard (DJR Team Penske) and Friday's pacesetter Jamie Whincup.
Rick Kelly ensured there were two Nissans inside the top 10, in seventh in front of Brad Jones Racing's Tim Slade.
The top eight all posted times under the previous 1:06.03s practice record held by Lowndes.
Reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen struggled for pace for the most part of the session, before popping in a time to lift him from 20th to ninth late in the session.
The New Zealander was convinced there was something broken on his car during Friday, which prompted Triple Eight to undergo several changes to identify the cause of the balance issue.
“It is good we will just see where we go in qualifying,” said a terse van Gisbergen.
“We didn't go all out there we will see what happens in qualifying.
“It feels better than yesterday.”
Garry Rogers Motorsport's James Moffat rounded out the top 10 while Chaz Mostert was the top Prodrive runner in 11th spot, just ahead of Mobil 1 HSV Racing's James Courtney.
Mark Winterbottom was a notable absentee from the top 10 as he battled understeer with his Falcon on the way to 20th.
“We just made the car slower as the session went on and had a lot of understeer, so it was really hard to drive but thankfully that was practice, not qualifying,” said Winterbottom.
Tekno Autosports' Will Davison was forced to sit out the majority of the session due to a transaxle issue on his Commodore.
The team changed the component overnight but a problem with the part forced the squad to make further alterations.
Davison, who logged four laps, is confident a solution will be found before qualifying.
Meanwhile, Macauley Jones edged Jack Le Brocq to 22nd in the battle of the wildcard runners.
The Supercars field will return for a 15 minute qualifying session at 1350 local time ahead of a 42-lap race (1615).
Result: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship: CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown: Practice 3
1 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:05.5635RSS | |
2 | Erebus Penrite Racing | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VF | 1:05.7413rSS | 00.1778 |
3 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1:05.8097rSS | 00.2462 |
4 | TeamVortex | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1:05.8108rSS | 00.2473 |
5 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:05.8319rSS | 00.2684 |
6 | Red Bull Holden Racing Aust | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1:05.9647rSS | 00.4012 |
7 | Sengled Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:05.9948rSS | 00.4313 |
8 | Freightliner Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1:05.9953rSS | 00.4318 |
9 | Red Bull Holden Racing Aust | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.0647 SS | 00.5012 |
10 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | James Moffat | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.0713 SS | 00.5078 |
11 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:06.1008 SS | 00.5373 |
12 | Mobil 1 HSV Racing | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.1150 SS | 00.5515 |
13 | Team CoolDrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.1355 SS | 00.5720 |
14 | Monster Energy Racing | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:06.1394 SS | 00.5759 |
15 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.2251 SS | 00.6616 |
16 | carsales Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:06.2424 SS | 00.6789 |
17 | Preston Hire Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.2616 SS | 00.6981 |
18 | Holden | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.2861 SS | 00.7226 |
19 | Mobil 1 HSV Racing | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.3863 SS | 00.8228 |
20 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:06.3901 SS | 00.8266 |
21 | MEGA Racing | Jason Bright | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:06.4000 SS | 00.8365 |
22 | Drillpro Racing | Macauley Jones | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.4548 SS | 00.8913 |
23 | GoGetta Racing / MWM | Jack Le Brocq | Nissan Altima | 1:06.5724 SS | 01.0089 |
24 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Alex Rullo | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.6094 SS | 01.0459 |
25 | Team Harvey Norman | Simona De Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 1:06.6206 SS | 01.0571 |
26 | TEKNO Woodstock Racing | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.7426 SS | 01.1791 |
27 | Erebus GB Galvanizing Racing | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.7671 SS | 01.2036 |
28 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Cameron McConville | Holden Commodore VF | 1:06.8875 SS | 01.3240 |