
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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