Ford teams Dick Johnson Racing and Ford Performance Racing continued to enjoy contrasting fortunes at Mount Panorama during Friday morning practice.
Factory squad FPR ended the co-driver session atop the order thanks to the efforts of Steve Owen in Mark Winterbottom's #5 Falcon.
Owen ran a best of 2:06.78s inside the final minute of the 45 minute hit-out to edge Brad Jones Racing's Luke Youlden by just 0.02s.
FPR drivers have topped three of the four sessions held to date following the efforts of Chaz Mostert and David Reynolds on Thursday.
“It's good to sit here and watch with a big smile, but it's still Friday,” said Winterbottom after Practice 4.
“We're still tuning away. The track will change a lot, we've seen it this morning as well. But it's good to be up the front and putting the pressure on the other guys.”
Alex Premat ended the session third in Scott McLaughlin's Volvo after briefly topping the order inside the final five minutes.
Taz Douglas was the fastest of the Nissans in fourth ahead of Dean Canto's FPR Falcon, the second Norton Altima, driven by Dean Fiore, and the Jack Daniel's example at the hands of Alex Buncombe.
Practice 4 was the first session to run without a red flag interruption, with the only notable drama befalling DJR's Ash Walsh.
The #16 Wilson Security Falcon suffered cosmetic rear-end damage in an incident at The Cutting with 15 minutes remaining.
“I just turned in and lost the rear and got the wall pretty lightly. It's cosmetic damage,” he said.
“It's one of those things here that if you make a small error you pay for it pretty hard.”
Red Bull co-drivers Steven Richards and Paul Dumbrell sat one-two for a large portion of the session before falling to 10th and 16th respectively by the flag.
All 26 cars took to the track this morning following repair work from the Holden Racing Team and Volvo Polestar Racing on its Garth Tander/Warren Luff and Robert Dahlgren/Greg Ritter entries respectively
The final practice session prior to qualifying will kick-off at 1310 local time.
Result: V8 Supercars Practice 4, Bathurst
1 |
Ford Pepsi Max Crew |
Steve Owen |
Ford Falcon FG |
02:06.78 |
|
2 |
Lockwood Racing |
Luke Youlden |
Holden Commodore VF |
02:06.80 |
00:00.02 |
3 |
Valvoline Racing GRM |
Alexandre Premat |
Volvo S60 |
02:06.89 |
00:00.11 |
4 |
Norton Hornets |
Taz Douglas |
Nissan Altima |
02:07.19 |
00:00.41 |
5 |
The Bottle-O Racing Team |
Dean Canto |
Ford Falcon FG |
02:07.31 |
00:00.53 |
6 |
Norton Hornets |
Dean Fiore |
Nissan Altima |
02:07.33 |
00:00.56 |
7 |
Jack Daniel's Racing |
Alex Buncombe |
Nissan Altima |
02:07.34 |
00:00.56 |
8 |
Team JELD-WEN |
Cameron Waters |
Ford Falcon FG |
02:07.43 |
00:00.65 |
9 |
Supercheap Auto Racing |
Tony D'Alberto |
Holden Commodore VF |
02:07.52 |
00:00.74 |
10 |
Red Bull Racing Australia |
Steven Richards |
Holden Commodore VF |
02:07.55 |
00:00.77 |
11 |
Wilson Security Racing |
Steven Johnson |
Ford Falcon FG |
02:07.63 |
00:00.86 |
12 |
Repair Management Aust Racing |
Tim Blanchard |
Holden Commodore VF |
02:07.65 |
00:00.87 |
13 |
Walkinshaw Racing |
Oliver Gavin |
Holden Commodore VF |
02:07.71 |
00:00.93 |
14 |
Team BOC |
Andrew Jones |
Holden Commodore VF |
02:07.83 |
00:01.05 |
15 |
Valvoline Racing GRM |
Greg Ritter |
Volvo S60 |
02:07.84 |
00:01.06 |
16 |
Red Bull Racing Australia |
Paul Dumbrell |
Holden Commodore VF |
02:07.87 |
00:01.09 |
17 |
Wilson Security Racing |
Ashley Walsh |
Ford Falcon FG |
02:08.02 |
00:01.25 |
18 |
Jack Daniel's Racing |
David Russell |
Nissan Altima |
02:08.04 |
00:01.26 |
19 |
Team Advam/GB |
Chris Pither |
Holden Commodore VF |
02:08.06 |
00:01.28 |
20 |
Holden Racing Team |
Warren Luff |
Holden Commodore VF |
02:08.10 |
00:01.32 |
21 |
Holden Racing Team |
Greg Murphy |
Holden Commodore VF |
02:08.11 |
00:01.33 |
22 |
Erebus Team Beko |
Alex Davison |
Mercedes E63 AMG |
02:08.16 |
00:01.38 |
23 |
Super Black Racing |
Andre Heimgartner |
Ford Falcon FG |
02:08.34 |
00:01.57 |
24 |
Erebus Motorsport V8 |
Craig Baird |
Mercedes E63 AMG |
02:08.41 |
00:01.63 |
25 |
Team Tekno VIP Petfoods |
Jonathon Webb |
Holden Commodore VF |
02:08.54 |
00:01.77 |
26 |
Ford Pepsi Max Crew |
Paul Morris |
Ford Falcon FG |
02:09.89 |
00:03.11 |