Tailem Bend Supercars: Percat leads all in third practice

Under blue skies, the third practice session of the weekend got underway from The Bend Motorsport Park on Satuday.

Jamie Whincup was the first to post a flying lap at 1:50.62 seconds, but Nick Percat was soon able to better the fast time to a 1:50.50. Whincup later found himself off in the grass at Turn 9, but he was able to carry on without further incident.

The majority of teams opted to make longer runs until the end of the 45-minute practice, but no driver ran more than a total of 15 laps.

The benchmark was lowered throughout the session with Percat reclaiming the top spot in the closing minutes, completing the course in 1:49.5892 seconds. Mark Winterbottom was second, Chaz Mostert third, Tim Blanchard fourth and Andre Heimgartner rounding out the top-five. 

As the checkered flag waved to end practice, James Courtney had a big off at Turn 9, but he was able to avoid sustaining any major damage.

Championship leader Scott McLaughlin had an eventful session, running off course and through the gravel. He would end the session 12th. His main title threat Shane van Gisbergen, who holds the fastest lap of the weekend (1:48.7499 seconds in FP2), clocked in sixth.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	13	1'49.5892			162.607
2	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG X	13	1'49.8140	0.2248	0.2248	162.274
3	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG X	15	1'49.8229	0.2337	0.0089	162.261
4	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	14	1'49.8925	0.3033	0.0696	162.158
5	7	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	15	1'49.9753	0.3861	0.0828	162.036
6	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	14	1'49.9947	0.4055	0.0194	162.007
7	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	12	1'50.0355	0.4463	0.0408	161.947
8	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	13	1'50.1738	0.5846	0.1383	161.744
9	1	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	13	1'50.3034	0.7142	0.1296	161.554
10	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	15	1'50.3258	0.7366	0.0224	161.521
11	34	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	13	1'50.3403	0.7511	0.0145	161.500
12	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG X	13	1'50.3459	0.7567	0.0056	161.492
13	99	Anton de	Holden Commodore ZB	12	1'50.3748	0.7856	0.0289	161.449
14	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	15	1'50.4296	0.8404	0.0548	161.369
15	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	13	1'50.6007	1.0115	0.1711	161.120
16	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG X	12	1'50.7342	1.1450	0.1335	160.925
17	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	14	1'50.7524	1.1632	0.0182	160.899
18	230	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG X	12	1'50.8973	1.3081	0.1449	160.689
19	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore ZB	15	1'50.9855	1.3963	0.0882	160.561
20	25	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	14	1'51.0550	1.4658	0.0695	160.461
21	4	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	14	1'51.0731	1.4839	0.0181	160.434
22	56	Richie Stanaway	Ford Falcon FG X	12	1'51.3031	1.7139	0.2300	160.103
23	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	14	1'51.4145	1.8253	0.1114	159.943
24	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG X	13	1'51.6665	2.0773	0.2520	159.582
25	42	Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	14	1'51.9312	2.3420	0.2647	159.204
26	19	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	14	1'52.0859	2.4967	0.1547	158.985
27	18	Lee Holdsworth   Jason Bright	Holden Commodore ZB	12	1'52.5347	2.9455	0.4488	158.351
28	35	Todd Hazelwood	Ford Falcon FG X	14	1'53.0588	3.4696	0.5241	157.617