Bathurst 1000: Premat fastest in co-driver practice

With rain coming and going throughout the session there was very little movement at the top of the times, a 1m35.826s from Nissan driver Garry Jacobson locking out P1 right up until the final couple of minutes.

That was when Premat put in a two-lap stint to go fastest, first moving up the order to third before a 2m35.182s secured top spot.

“It was pretty good. We were going through a process, a plan,” said the Frenchman.

“I would say at the end it was harder because there were only a few cars driving and there was more aquaplaning in the straight line.

“But happy days, we’re feeling pretty happy.”

Jacobson's time was good enough for second, ahead of Triple Eight's Earl Bamber, who also set his best time inside the first quarter of an hour.

Tickford's Dean Canto was fourth, with Penske's Tony D'Alberto making a late gain to slot into fifth despite some concerns over the gearbox.

“I felt it was a little bit notchy on the downshift,” he said.

“I don’t think there was anything majorly wrong, but if you don’t report it today and it affects you on Sunday, you’d be kicking yourself.”

With weather conditions predicted to improve before Sunday, and primary drivers set to be in the cars for qualifying tomorrow, a lot of the crews kept running to a minimum.

Three cars didn't venture out at all, Tekno's Jono Webb and Erebus drivers Luke Youlden and Will Brown all opting to stay dry in their respective garages.

With Erebus having pulled the same trick this morning, neither the #9 or #99 Holdens have turned a single lap so far.

Nissan's Dean Fiore, meanwhile, had his running limited to two laps by an engine problem.

“We were looking for a little issue and found a big one," said Nissan team manager Scott Sinclair. "It’s a good time of the weekend to find it, so we’ll change it and get back out."

There is a final hour-long all-in Thursday practice session to come 3:05pm local time.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	17	Alexandre Prémat Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG X	2'35.1824
2	11	Rick Kelly Garry Jacobson	Nissan Altima	2'35.8261	0.6437
3	97	Earl Bamber Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	2'35.9012	0.7188
4	5	Mark Winterbottom Dean Canto	Ford Falcon FG X	2'36.6303	1.4479
5	12	Tony D'Alberto Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG X	2'36.7785	1.5961
6	21	Dale Wood Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	2'36.7801	1.5977
7	6	David Russell Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG X	2'37.2193	2.0369
8	9	David Reynolds Luke Youlden	Holden Commodore ZB	2'37.6523	2.4699
9	888	Steven Richards Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	2'37.7972	2.6148
10	55	Chaz Mostert James Moffat	Ford Falcon FG X	2'37.8112	2.6288
11	25	James Courtney Jack Perkins	Holden Commodore ZB	2'38.2487	3.0663
12	230	Alex Davison Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG X	2'38.9721	3.7897
13	78	Simona de Silvestro Alex Rullo	Nissan Altima	2'39.2353	4.0529
14	2	Warren Luff Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	2'39.3210	4.1386
15	18	Lee Holdsworth Jason Bright	Holden Commodore ZB	2'39.3438	4.1614
16	8	Nick Percat Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	2'39.6485	4.4661
17	34	James Golding Richard Muscat	Holden Commodore ZB	2'39.6732	4.4908
18	35	Bryce Fullwood Todd Hazelwood	Ford Falcon FG X	2'40.2984	5.1160
19	7	Andre Heimgartner Aaren Russell	Nissan Altima	2'40.3159	5.1335
20	23	Michael Caruso Dean Fiore	Nissan Altima	2'40.6292	5.4468
21	33	Garth Tander Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	2'40.6679	5.4855
22	14	Tim Slade Ash Walsh	Holden Commodore ZB	2'42.0631	6.8807
23	56	Richie Stanaway Steven Owen	Ford Falcon FG X	2'50.5328	15.3504