Waters rounds out Tickford clean sweep, Kiwis 2-3-4 in third practice

For the second session today, Cam Waters has topped practice ahead of Sunday’s Bathurst 1000, albeit not without some late drama.

The Tickford racer set a 2:04.169 with his last lap of the day in a qualifying sim run. But he then rolled to a halt after the chequered flag having used all the fuel in his tank.

The result means Tickford clean sweeps the day’s running, topping all three practice sessions.

An all-New Zealand 2-3-4 followed with Scott McLaughlin leading Shane van Gisbergen and Andre Heimgartner. McLaughlin ended over two-tenths behind Waters while his Red Bull rival was only a further 0.0305s back.

Fabian Coulthard was the next Kiwi in sixth, split by Nick Percat in the lead BJR entry.

The bulk of the field set their best times in a final spree of laps. With qualifying held the same time tomorrow, teams looked to utilise the last ten minutes to turn up the wick and gain some useful data.

Lee Holdsworth ended up the seventh fastest driver, ahead of Anton De Pasquale. The No.99 Penrite machine running a flawless day with top-ten results in all three sessions.

James Courtney was next in the results sheet while Bryce Fulwood rounded out the ten.

Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes were a notable omission from the front runners. The No.888 Commodore came unglued at the final corner on its final flying lap and slumped to 16th as everyone around them bettered their personal bests.

McLaughlin spent most of the first half of the session among the top two positions. The defending Bathurst victor then looked to be on course for the fastest time of the day late in the session.

But after setting a purple first sector, the Kiwi ran off the road at the Esses and bailed out of his lap. A second flying lap had him temporally leap to first but he ultimately finished behind the rapid Waters.

Several teams also took the session as a dress rehearsal for the crucial pitstops in the race. Wild weather is forecasted for Sunday and could heighten the importance of tidy pit lane work for all teams.

The session itself run relatively cleanly. Michael Caruso had an off at the chase, skating through the sand but was able to recover himself and push on.

Coulthard, meanwhile, bowled a dead ball into Turn 1 just after the halfway point. But a nifty flickspin had the No.12 back on the correct path shortly thereafter.

A transaxle issue for Matt Stone Racing had Jake Kostecki stuck in the garage for large portions of time.