Tasmania Supercars: Whincup fastest in third practice

Shane van Gisbergen spent the majority of the 20-minute session on top of the times, going quickest with a 50.937s four minutes in and staying there until there was four minutes to go.

It was at that point that Whincup took over at the top with a 50.739s, van Gisbergen then improving on his final run, but still falling 0.07s short of reclaiming top spot from his teammate.

Whincup's time was good enough for P1, but almost two-tenths down on his lap record lap yesterday afternoon – something he says is down to a change in wind direction.

"Yesterday we had a big tailwind down the back straight, so you could go crazy deep into the hairpin, but then it was hard to pull up at the end of the back straight," he said. "Now it's the complete opposite; you've got to be a bit careful into the hairpin, but you can go super deep down the back.

"To go faster, yesterday's conditions were great, which is why we were seeing the big times. But it doesn't really matter what the time is, you just try and be quicker than everyone else."

Scott McLaughlin was best of the rest behind the Red Bulls, popping up in third on his final run with a 50.839s.

David Reynolds was fourth fastest, despite a mid-session run-in with van Gisbergen. The pair tripped over each other at Turn 1, Reynolds almost running into the back of van Gisbergen after the Kiwi backed off.

"Luckily I've got cat-like reflexes, because I saved my car and his car," said Reynolds. "I'm not sure what he was thinking. I don't know. I think [Driving Standards Observer] Craig [Baird] needs have a chat with him..."

"I mucked up my lap and then carried on," countered van Gisbergen. "The corner was ruined. I got in his way, whatever. It's practice. I'm sorry to wreck his lap, but it's practice..."

Todd Hazelwood was the surprise of the session, ending up fifth quickest and best of the Fords in the Matt Stone Racing entry.

Mark Winterbottom was next in line in the Tickford Ford, ahead of Garth Tander and Tim Slade.

Cam Waters and Craig Lowndes rounded out the Top 10.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Interval
1	1	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	50.7396
2	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	50.8112	0.0716	0.0716
3	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG X	50.8398	0.1002	0.0286
4	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	51.0190	0.2794	0.1792
5	35	Todd Hazelwood	Ford Falcon FG X	51.0201	0.2805	0.0011
6	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG X	51.0311	0.2915	0.0110
7	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore ZB	51.0414	0.3018	0.0103
8	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	51.0508	0.3112	0.0094
9	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG X	51.1224	0.3828	0.0716
10	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	51.1639	0.4243	0.0415
11	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG X	51.1819	0.4423	0.0180
12	19	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	51.1963	0.4567	0.0144
13	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	51.2137	0.4741	0.0174
14	56	Richie Stanaway	Ford Falcon FG X	51.2401	0.5005	0.0264
15	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG X	51.2740	0.5344	0.0339
16	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	51.2793	0.5397	0.0053
17	25	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	51.2846	0.5450	0.0053
18	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	51.2888	0.5492	0.0042
19	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	51.2928	0.5532	0.0040
20	99	Anton de Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	51.3097	0.5701	0.0169
21	34	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	51.3346	0.5950	0.0249
22	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore ZB	51.3534	0.6138	0.0188
23	7	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	51.4500	0.7104	0.0966
24	230	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG X	51.5028	0.7632	0.0528
25	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	51.8124	1.0728	0.3096
26	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	51.9129	1.1733	0.1005