news: James Courtney tops final Winton practice

James Courtney tops final Winton practice

James Courtney set the quickest time in final practice

Holden Racing Team star James Courtney has bounced back from a Saturday clash with team-mate Garth Tander to top morning practice at Winton.

The 2010 V8 Supercars champion shot to the top of the order with little over a minute remaining, recording a 1:23.75s on a set of soft tyres.

Courtney is hopeful of an improved showing in qualifying today after all four Walkinshaw Holdens failed to make the top 10 in either session on Saturday.

“It has been a good little run out this morning,” he said, having also topped yesterday’s practice session.

“It will be interesting to see how it goes (in qualifying) on green hard tyres and how the strategy plays out today.

“It should be a much better race today it can’t be any worse than yesterday.”

Volvo’s David Wall had led the times for much of the 15 minutes and ended up second, 0.41s adrift of the Holden.

Craig Lowndes completed an 11 lap soft tyre evaluation run on his way to third ahead of Chaz Mostert, Michael Caruso and Ash Walsh.

Walsh’s Mercedes escaped unharmed in a late off at Turn 1, while Jason Bright also visited the grass in the closing stages, sliding wide at Turn 3.

A 20 minute qualifying session from 1155 will set the grid for the afternoon’s 200km race.

Result: V8 Supercars Practice 3, Winton

1	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	01:23.75
2	Wilson Security Racing GRM	David Wall	Volvo S60	01:24.16	00:00.41
3	Red Bull Racing Australia	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	01:24.36	00:00.61
4	Pepsi Max Crew	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	01:24.41	00:00.66
5	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	01:24.44	00:00.69
6	Erebus Motorsport V8	Ashley Walsh	Mercedes E63 AMG	01:24.48	00:00.73
7	Freightliner Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VF	01:24.50	00:00.75
8	The Bottle-O Racing Team	David Reynolds	Ford Falcon FG/X	01:24.65	00:00.90
9	Nissan Motorsport	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	01:24.65	00:00.91
10	Erebus Motorsport V8	Will Davison	Mercedes E63 AMG	01:24.69	00:00.94
11	GB Galvanizing Racing	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	01:24.69	00:00.95
12	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	01:24.97	00:01.22
13	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60	01:25.04	00:01.29
14	Super Black Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Falcon FG/X	01:25.05	00:01.30
15	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	01:25.09	00:01.34
16	DJR Team Penske	Scott Pye	Ford Falcon FG/X	01:25.14	00:01.39
17	Team Cooldrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	01:25.17	00:01.42
18	Nissan Motorsport	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	01:25.18	00:01.43
19	Repair Management Aust Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	01:25.21	00:01.46
20	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	01:25.28	00:01.53
21	Supercheap Auto Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	01:25.31	00:01.56
22	Pepsi Max Crew	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	01:25.32	00:01.57
23	Walkinshaw Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	01:25.46	00:01.71
24	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	01:25.82	00:02.07
25	Nissan Motorsport	James Moffat	Nissan Altima	01:25.91	00:02.16