D’Alberto puts repaired Shell Falcon on top

Tony D’Alberto put the repaired Shell V Power Racing Ford Falcon on top of the times in third practice for the Wilson Security Sandown 500.

The #12 Shell Ford successfully returned to the track after the team completed repairs following Fabian Coulthard’s crash in Practice 2.

D’Alberto mastered the tricky wet conditions that were presented to the co-drivers as rain persisted at the Melbourne circuit.

The conditions provided plenty of wild moments for the field with many running across the grass at Turn 2, the Esses and the final corner.

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However, it was D’Alberto who emerged with the benchmark time after posting a 1:20.97s to top the session.

“The car felt pretty good there. We just focused on staying out there and getting a bit of tyre temp, very slippery though, extremely slippery,” said D’Alberto.

“It is good to get accustomed to the track in these conditions as who knows what tomorrow is going to bring.”

“Credit to everyone at Shell V-Power Racing, they turned this car around from my undoing in the practice before so it is a good repayment for the boys,” added Coulthard.

Mobil 1 HSV Racing continued its strong showing in the wet as Warren Luff clocked the second fastest time in the #02 he will share with Scott Pye.

Richard Muscat settled for third in the #34 Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden having topped the session early in the running.

Steve Owen put Chaz Mostert’s Prodrive Falcon in fourth ahead Jack Le Brocq, who was the top Nissan Motorsport runner in fifth.

After replacing the transaxle in the break between sessions, the #22 Mobil 1 HSV Racing Commodore piloted by Jack Perkins was sixth.

Prodrive’s Richie Stanaway was seventh in the #6 Cameron Waters led Monster Energy Falcon.

The top 10 was completed by David Wall (#15 Nissan Motorsport), Alex Premat (#17 Shell V Power Racing) and James Golding (#33 Garry Rogers Motorsport).

Triple Eight were among a handful of entries that struggled for pace during the session.

Paul Dumbrell was the fastest from the Brisbane operation in 14th, Steven Richards (#888 TeamVortex) finished in 20th, while Matt Campbell (#97 Red Bull Holden) was 23rd.

The team elected not to run a full wet set-up on its cars.

“We know we’ve got excellent co-drivers, so when they’re down the bottom clearly the cars aren’t fast,” said Jamie Whincup.

“In saying that, we haven’t got a full wet set-up because the weekend is looking like it will be dry. But we genuinely don’t have any pace, which is a little bit concerning for qualifying tomorrow if the track is wet.”

Mark Winterbottom’s #5 Falcon propped up the times with Dean Canto at the wheel after facing struggles throughout.

The Supercars field return to the track tomorrow for a final 15 minute practice session at 0920 AEST, prior to a 20 minute qualifying session.

Results: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Wilson Security Sandown 500 Practice 3 (Co-drivers)

1	12	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Tony D’Alberto	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:20.9755
2	02	Mobil 1 HSV Racing	Warren Luff	Holden Commodore VF	1:21.2611	0.2856
3	34	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Richard Muscat	Holden Commodore VF	1:21.4888	0.5133
4	55	Supercheap Auto Racing	Steve Owen	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:21.4908	0.5153
5	7	carsales Racing	Jack Le Brocq	Nissan Altima	1:21.5225	0.5470
6	22	Mobil 1 HSV Racing	Jack Perkins	Holden Commodore VF	1:21.5348	0.5593
7	6	Monster Energy Racing	Richie Stanaway	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:21.5774	0.6019
8	15	Sengled Racing	David Wall	Nissan Altima	1:21.7712	0.7957
9	17	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Alexandre Premat	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:21.9407	0.9652
10	33	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Golding	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.1204	1.1449
11	56	MEGA Racing	Garry Jacobson	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:22.1443	1.1688
12	8	Mongrel Boots Racing	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.2224	1.2469
13	4	Team CoolDrive	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.3272	1.3517
14	88	Red Bull Holden Racing Aust	Paul Dumbrell	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.4469	1.4714
15	3	Plus Fitness Racing	Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.4652	1.4897
16	19	TEKNO Woodstock Racing	Jonathon Webb	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.4805	1.5050
17	23	Nissan Motorsport	Dean Fiore	Nissan Altima	1:22.5393	1.5638
18	78	Team Harvey Norman	David Russell	Nissan Altima	1:22.6925	1.7170
19	99	Erebus GB Galvanizing Racing	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.7033	1.7278
20	888	TeamVortex	Steven Richards	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.7989	1.8234
21	18	Preston Hire Racing	Karl Reindler	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.8920	1.9165
22	9	Erebus Penrite Racing	Luke Youlden	Holden Commodore VF	1:23.4263	2.4508
23	97	Red Bull Holden Racing Aust	Matthew Campbell	Holden Commodore VF	1:23.5455	2.5700
24	62	Repair Management Aust Racing	Alex Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1:23.8867	2.9112
25	75	Freightliner Racing	Ashley Walsh	Holden Commodore VF	1:24.6693	3.6938
26	5	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Dean Canto	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:24.7116	3.7361