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Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Broc Feeney has topped final practice at the Repco Bathurst 1000 ahead of his tilt at pole position in this afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout.
The #88 Red Bull Ampol crew inverted their programme, with Feeney setting his 2:05.5872s in the opening 20 minutes of the hour-long sixth practice session before Jamie Whincup finished it off.
The sun was shining over Mount Panorama and there were no real ‘Hollywood’ lap times, with provisional pole-sitter Brodie Kostecki claiming second for the session on a 2:05.8290s in the #99 Erebus Motorsport Camaro, 1.1646s slower than his best in Qualifying.
Team-mate Will Brown was two tenths slightly slower than Kostecki in Practice 6, but that was still an encouraging sign after handling issues in Practice 5 this morning off the back of his Qualifying crash.
Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters (#6 Mustang) was best of the Ford contingent in fourth on a 2:06.2403s, ahead of Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) on a 2:06.2724s.
With Practice 6 being a refuelling session, teams were quickly into pit stop practice, while some decided to road tyres.
Feeney, though, was running at pace, clocking a 2:05.9842s on his first flyer in the #88 Camaro.
Kostecki was a little later to set off but, when he did, he immediately laid down a 2:05.8290s in the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro.
Brown’s prang in Qualifying had left the Erebus crew hastily repairing it so that the Queenslander could set a time, but co-driver Jack Perkins experienced handling issues during this morning’s practice session.
They looked to have been sorted when, 15 minutes into Practice 6, Brown moved up to third with a 2:06.0478s in the #9 Coca-Cola Camaro which is set to start from 17th tomorrow morning.
Feeney, however, has the Top 10 Shootout to come this afternoon and he was back on top in the final hit-out before the one-lap dash when he clocked a 2:05.5872s.
Tony D’Alberto had a seemingly innocuous off at The Chase in Anton De Pasquale’s #11 Shell V-Power Mustang but there was a more significant drama for Grove Racing when they struggled to remove a rotor from the #26 Penrite Mustang during a brake change rehearsal, to the point that the car was pushed into the garage.
With five minutes remaining, Feeney still held sway but it was co-driver Whincup circulating in the #88 Camaro.
Kostecki sat second on the timing screen, from Brown, Waters, van Gisbergen, Scott Pye (#20 Toyota Forklifts Camaro), Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang), Cameron Hill (#35 Truck Assist Camaro), Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro), and James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro).
In fact, few looked to be going for shootout sims while Golding, who is provisionally second on the grid, was personal-best to the second sector when he had an off at The Chase.
De Pasquale, provisionally third on the grid, claimed sixth with a late 2:06.2874s and Golding moved up to seventh when he strung together a 2:06.2942s with the chequered flag out, a lap after his off.
Andre Heimgartner ended up eighth in the #8 R&J Batteries Camaro, from Pye and Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang).
Three shootout participants missed the top 10 in Practice 6, namely Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) in 11th, David Reynolds (#26 Mustang) in 13th, and Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) in 14th.
The Top 10 Shootout is scheduled to start at 17:05 local time/AEDT.
CLICK HERE for full Practice 6 results
