Lockwood Racing’s Fabian Coulthard has bettered the Winton V8 Supercar lap record by an amazing 1.1 second in today’s final practice run, recording a 1min20.7965 around the 3km circuit.
A whopping 16 cars went quicker than the previous record, which was a 1min21.8487 set by Rick Kelly in 2010.
Lee Holdsworth’s Erebus Mercedes and Team TEKNO VIP Petfoods’ Shane van Gisbergen finished top three, plenty of drivers on a one-lap dash in the closing stages of the session.
“It feels like I’m driving a Formula One car!” van Gisbergen declared over the radio, after having told engineer Geoff Slater earlier the track was “really grippy”.
A red flag appeared at the halfway point for the third time in as many sessions, Michael Caruso again veering off-track.
Tim Slade shot to the top on green tyres, but another red flag for Scott Pye meant it was a five-minute dash to the chequered flag.
Craig Lowndes, Slade, Jason Bright, Jamie Whincup, Rich Kelly, Scott McLaughlin and Will Davison made the top 10 – making Ford the only manufacturer not to feature.
Others to note include first Falcon David Reynolds in 13, Mark Winterbottom 19, Garth Tander 20 and James Courtney 22.
Click here for full session results.
The V8 Supercars hit the track for back-to-back 10-minute qualifying sessions at 11am, with two 100km races around Winton to follow.
Coulthard sits third in the Championship, behind Red Bull leaders Craig Lowndes Jamie Whincup.
