Percat fastest in final practice at The Bend

Nick Percat has set the fastest lap in the final practice session for the OTR SuperSprint at The Bend Motorsport Park.

The South Australian ended up a little over two tenths of a second quicker than Tickford Racing duo Mark Winterbottom and Chaz Mostert, who exchanged second position after the chequered flag.

The Shell V-Power Racing Fords of Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard continued to struggle, finishing 12th and 16th, respectively.

Percat was prominent throughout the 45-minute session and his best of 1:49.5892s, 0.8393s slower than the Friday benchmark, came during the penultimate run for the #8 Mobil ZB Commodore.

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“It’s awesome to be in that front five but far out, if that thing is quickest there are some blokes working real hard, because I feel all our cars are still outside the window,” declared Percat.

“We’re just teetering on the edge. The good thing is my car’s been good on old tyres and new tyres and it shows that our package is good here because I did next to no laps yesterday in Practice 1 (due to transaxle problems) and rolled out quick so credit to the guys.

“Just keep resurfacing all the tracks around the country and BJR will be on for a championship.

“It is good but a lot of work to do and I imagine the 26 others will say the same thing.”

His full-time Brad Jones Racing team-mates Tim Blanchard (#21 CoolDrive ZB Commodore) and Tim Slade (#14 Freightliner ZB Commodore) ended the session fourth and eighth, respectively.

Splitting them was Tickford’s two former Bathurst 1000 winners.

Winterbottom very briefly held top spot just before Percat’s ultimate benchmark and was second ahead of the final runs.

Mostert (#55 Supercheap Auto FGX Falcon) shot up from 17th to second with the chequered flag out before Winterbottom (#5 The Bottle-O FGX Falcon) edged back in front of his team-mate with a lap 0.2248s slower than Percat’s best.

Andre Heimgartner was fastest at the halfway mark in the #7 Plus Fitness Nissan Altima, got bumped outside the top 10, then set a time good enough for fifth on his final lap.

Friday fast man Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull HRT ZB Commodore) was sixth and 1.2448s slower in Saturday’s only practice session, which ran in colder conditions than the day before.

Triple Eight team-mate Craig Lowndes was next in the #888 Autobarn ZB Commodore having found 1.8146s compared to his fastest Friday lap time, an effort which saw him also hold top spot during the session.

Jamie Whincup (#1 Triple Eight ZB Commodore) finished ninth and Michael Caruso (#23 Industrial Athlete Nissan Altima) 10th.

The Bend’s new surface and technical layout continued to catch out several drivers, including Whincup and McLaughlin.

The latter was set to usurp Heimgartner’s then-fastest lap just before the halfway mark until he ran off at the second-last corner.

McLaughlin finished the session three-quarters of a second off the pace, while David Reynolds was further back in 15th in the #9 Penrite ZB Commodore.

Armor All Qualifying for Race 22 starts at 1315 local time/1345 AEST.

Results: Supercars Practice 3

1	8  X-Convenience – Mobil Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1:49.5892*S
2	5  The Bottle-O Racing Team	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:49.8140 S	00.2248
3	55  Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:49.8229 S	00.2337
4	21  Team CoolDrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	1:49.8925 S	00.3033
5	7  Plus Fitness Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	1:49.9753 S	00.3861
6	97  Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1:49.9947 S	00.4055
7	888  Autobarn Lowndes Racing	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	1:50.0355 S	00.4463
8	14  Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	1:50.1738 S	00.5846
9	1  Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	1:50.3034 S	00.7142
10	23  Drive Racing	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1:50.3258 S	00.7366
11	34  Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1:50.3403 S	00.7511
12	17  Shell V-Power Racing Team	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:50.3459 S	00.7567
13	99  Erebus Motorsport	Anton de Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	1:50.3748 S	00.7856
14	2  Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1:50.4296 S	00.8404
15	9  Erebus Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	1:50.6007 S	01.0115
16	12  Shell V-Power Racing Team	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:50.7342 S	01.1450
17	15  Castrol Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:50.7524 S	01.1632
18	230  Milwaukee Racing	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:50.8973 S	01.3081
19	33  Wilson Security Racing GRM	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore ZB	1:50.9855 S	01.3963
20	25  Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	1:51.0550 S	01.4658
21	4  DrillPro Racing	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1:51.0731 S	01.4839
22	56  RABBLE.club Racing	Richie Stanaway	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:51.3031 S	01.7139
23	78  Team Harvey Norman	Simona De Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1:51.4145 S	01.8253
24	6  Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:51.6665 S	02.0773
25	42  Arcoplate Racing	Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore VF	1:51.9312 S	02.3420
26	19  Tekno Autosport	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1:52.0859 S	02.4967
27	18  Preston Hire Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore ZB	1:52.5347 S	02.9455
28	35  Bigmate Racing	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore VF	1:53.0588 S	03.4696