Whincup blitzes final GC600 practice

Jamie Whincup posted the fastest ever Supercars lap at Surfers Paradise to top the final practice session for the Vodafone Gold Coast 600.

The Triple Eight driver clocked a stunning 1:09.91s effort in the dying moments of a truncated 30 minute session.

“I did an eleven and a half (1:11.5s lap) this morning and then Paul Dumbrell went out and did a 11.1s. I thought I might have been out for qually, PD in,” joked Whincup.

“Thankfully I recovered in Practice 3. The track was perfect. These new tyres are grippy, compared to last year, plenty of drive out of the hairpins.

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“We are good, but we will wait for the rain to come down tonight and all day tomorrow and see what the wet set-up is like.”

A flurry of fast times arrived in the final minutes as teams elected to complete green tyre runs.

Practice 1 pacesetter Chaz Mostert was among a group of drivers to improve late on to claim second, 0.18s adrift of Whincup, while Bathurst 1000 winner David Reynolds was third for Erebus Motorsport.

The session was red flagged twice with the second arriving seven minutes from the end when Garry Rogers Motorsport’s James Moffat found the wall hard at Turn 11.

It appeared Moffat clipped the inside wall which resulted in the Holden making front end contact with the tyre barrier on the corner exit.

“I was just pushing too hard and I made a mistake,” said Moffat.

“It was silly. I don’t know how the car will be but it was quite a head on impact.”

The session was halted briefly in the opening minutes when the tyre bundle at Turn 15 became dislodged.

Meanwhile, Scott McLaughlin improved in the final moments to secure fourth in the #17 Shell Ford, ahead of Shan van Gisbergen, who had topped the session briefly following the resumption after the second red flag.

Fabian Coulthard was sixth fastest in the #12 Shell Ford ahead of Prodrive duo Mark Winterbottom and Cameron Waters.

Todd Kelly emerged as the top Nissan Motorsport runner in ninth, while Craig Lowndes round out the top 10.

It proved to be an eventful end to his session as the Triple Eight driver locked the rears and spun at Turn 4.

Lowndes then copped a hit from Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport’s Alex Rullo, although both were able to continue without issue.

The Supercars field will return to the track on Saturday morning for Race 21 Qualifying at 1120 local time.

Results: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Vodafone Gold Coast 600 Practice 3

1	Red Bull Holden Racing Aust	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1:09.9179R
2	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:10.1037	0.1858
3	Erebus Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.3301	0.4122
4	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:10.3536	0.4357
5	Red Bull Holden Racing Aust	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.3588	0.4409
6	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:10.5337	0.6158
7	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:10.5554	0.6375
8	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:10.5676	0.6497
9	carsales Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:10.6728	0.7549
10	TeamVortex	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.6817	0.7638
11	Mobil 1 HSV Racing	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.6836	0.7657
12	Boost Mobile	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.7624	0.8445
13	Mobil 1 HSV Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.7708	0.8529
14	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.7817	0.8638
15	TEKNO Woodstock Racing	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.9151	0.9972
16	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1:10.9460	1.0281
17	Preston Hire Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	1:10.9650	1.0471
18	Sengled Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:11.0075	1.0896
19	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Moffat	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.1074	1.1895
20	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.2205	1.3026
21	Plus Fitness Racing	A.Russell/T.Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.4495	1.5316
22	MEGA Racing	Jason Bright	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:11.4860	1.5681
23	Erebus GB Galvanizing Racing	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.5324	1.6145
24	Team CoolDrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	1:11.6767	1.7588
25	Team Harvey Norman	Simona De Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1:11.8944	1.9765
26	Repair Management Aust Racing	A.Rullo/A.Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1:12.5076	2.5897