Payne fastest in Bathurst third practice

Matt Payne has topped Friday’s opening practice at Bathurst with a late qualifying simulation of 2:05.285, bettering Brodie Kostecki’s early pace-setting time at the top of the leaderboard. Payne’s teammate David Reynolds also put in a late flyer to jump to second in the session, 0.088 seconds behind the Kiwi.

Kostecki’s 2:05.4377, set in the opening stages of the one-hour run, had been the fastest until the final 10 minutes when several teams opted for fresh super soft for qualifying simulation runs. It was enough for him to finish the session third.

Shell V-Power Racing also had both entries in the top five, with Will Davison bettering Anton De Pasquale by 0.1243 seconds for fourth and fifth, respectively, making it four Mustangs in the top five.

Cameron Hill was the second fastest Camaro in sixth overall, setting a best time of 2:05.6281, 0.3426 seconds off the pace of Payne.

Broc Feeney, Chaz Mostert, Cam Waters and Andre Heimgartner rounded out the top ten.

All three Triple Eight entries experienced offs during the run, with van Gisbergen and Whincup (Feeney) running long at the chance, while wildcard Zane Goddard (Lowndes) had a nervous moment coming over the top of the mountain and running through the sand, doing well to regain control and avoid the tyre wall.

Van Gisbergen’s best lap came late in the session, a 2:06.7509, the 19th-best of Practice 3.

An issue for Zak Best (Courtney) saw the Snowy Rivers Caravan Mustang forced to pull over on Conrod Straight, bringing out a brief red flag with 20 minutes remaining in the session.

Supercars return for Practice 4, for all drivers, at 3.05 pm ahead of qualifying at 6.15 pm this evening.

Practice 3 Results

Header Image: Penrite Racing