Scott McLaughlin
Scott McLaughlin has further lowered the practice record at The Bend as Shane van Gisbergen endured a torrid time in the third full-field session of the weekend.
McLaughlin, who also smashed the practice record the afternoon earlier, was more than three quarters of a second faster than the rest with a 1:47.9865s on used tyres in Practice 3, while Chaz Mostert and then Anton De Pasquale were next-best.
Van Gisbergen, on the other hand, ended up 20th having gone off four times in the #97 Red Bull HRT ZB Commodore during the half-hour session.
The hit-out was barely underway when a red flag was called in the seventh minute due to debris brought onto the track by a Macauley Jones (#21 CoolDrive ZB Commodore) off at Turn 18.
By then, van Gisbergen had already run off twice, first at Turn 13 followed by a wild moment when he hit the kerb and picked up two wheels through the succession of right-handers.
McLaughlin clocked a 1:48.9311s on his first flyer after the red flag in the #17 Shell V-Power Mustang, taking top spot from Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang).
On his next run, the championship leader set a 1:48.4030s on P3 tyres, putting him almost nine tenths of a second ahead of his rivals at that point in time.
DJR Team Penske reportedly bolted another used set of tyres onto Car #17 for the final run, when McLaughlin became the first driver to lap The Bend Motorsport Park in a Supercar in the 1:47s bracket.
As expected, most of the fast laps came right at the end of the session, which ran in cloudy conditions throughout.
Mostert moved to a 1:48.7594s late on in the #55 Supercheap Auto Mustang, while De Pasquale (#99 Penrite ZB Commodore) was less than three hundredths slower again.
Waters and Lee Holdsworth (#5 The Bottle-O Mustang) made it three Tickford Racing entries in the top five, the former as the last driver within a second of McLaughlin’s fastest lap.
Rounding out the top 10 were Scott Pye (#2 Mobil 1 Mega ZB Commodore), Will Davison (#23 Milwaukee Mustang), Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore), James Courtney (#22 Walkinshaw Andretti United ZB Commodore), and Tim Slade (#14 Freightliner ZB Commodore).
Fabian Coulthard (#12 Mustang) was 15th at 1.4106s slower than his team-mate in the second of the DJRTP entries, one position ahead of Erebus Motorsport’s David Reynolds (#9 ZB Commodore).
Wildcards Thomas Randle (#66 Scandia Mustang) and Jack Smith (#4 SCT Logistics ZB Commodore) were 17th and 18th respectively.
Van Gisbergen had two more offs after the red flag, including a moment at Turn 5 when his car snapped sideways and the steering wheel whip appeared to hurt his left wrist.
The 2016 champion even quipped, “Yay! I did a lap,” when he finally logged a somewhat representative lap time as he took the chequered flag, despite still being 1.6753s slower than McLaughlin.
Team-mate Jamie Whincup (#88 ZB Commodore) was even further back, in 24th.
Armor All Qualifying for Race 21 of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship starts at 1235 local time/1305 AEST.
One of Shane van Gisbergen’s many offs pic: Fox Sports
Results: Practice 3
| Pos | Num | Team/Sponsor | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Split |
| 1 | 17 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Mustang GT | 1:47.9865 | |
| 2 | 55 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Chaz Mostert | Ford Mustang GT | 1:48.7594 | 0:00.7729 |
| 3 | 99 | Penrite Racing | Anton De Pasquale | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:48.7844 | 0:00.7979 |
| 4 | 6 | Monster Energy Racing Team | Cameron Waters | Ford Mustang GT | 1:48.9334 | 0:00.9469 |
| 5 | 5 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Lee Holdsworth | Ford Mustang GT | 1:48.9921 | 0:01.0056 |
| 6 | 2 | Mobil 1 MEGA Racing | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:48.9934 | 0:01.0069 |
| 7 | 23 | Milwaukee Racing | Will Davison | Ford Mustang GT | 1:49.1473 | 0:01.1608 |
| 8 | 18 | Irwin Racing | Mark Winterbottom | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:49.1759 | 0:01.1894 |
| 9 | 22 | Mobil 1 MEGA Racing | James Courtney | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:49.2054 | 0:01.2189 |
| 10 | 14 | Freightliner Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:49.2236 | 0:01.2371 |
| 11 | 21 | Team CoolDrive | Macauley Jones | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:49.2534 | 0:01.2669 |
| 12 | 35 | Unit Racing | Todd Hazelwood | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:49.2791 | 0:01.2926 |
| 13 | 3 | RABBLE.club Racing | Garry Jacobson | Nissan Altima | 1:49.3341 | 0:01.3476 |
| 14 | 7 | Plus Fitness Racing | Andre Heimgartner | Nissan Altima | 1:49.3681 | 0:01.3816 |
| 15 | 12 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Mustang GT | 1:49.3971 | 0:01.4106 |
| 16 | 9 | Penrite Racing | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:49.4303 | 0:01.4438 |
| 17 | 66 | Scandia Racing | Thomas Randle | Ford Mustang GT | 1:49.5894 | 0:01.6029 |
| 18 | 4 | SCT Logistics Racing | Jack Smith | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:49.6248 | 0:01.6383 |
| 19 | 34 | Boost Mobile Racing | James Golding | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:49.6496 | 0:01.6631 |
| 20 | 97 | Red Bull Holden Racing Team | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:49.6618 | 0:01.6753 |
| 21 | 15 | Castrol Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:49.6646 | 0:01.6781 |
| 22 | 78 | Team Harvey Norman | Simona De Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 1:49.7821 | 0:01.7956 |
| 23 | 19 | Truck Assist TEKNO Racing | Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:49.9971 | 0:02.0106 |
| 24 | 88 | Red Bull Holden Racing Team | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:50.0142 | 0:02.0277 |
| 25 | 8 | X Convenience Mobil Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:50.1088 | 0:02.1223 |
| 26 | 33 | Boost Mobile Racing | Richie Stanaway | Holden Commodore ZB | 1:50.2410 | 0:02.2545 |
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