Jamie Whincup has continued an impressive start to the Coates Hire Ipswich 300 from Triple Eight Race Engineering by setting the fastest time in the first full-field practice session for the V8 Supercars.
Whincup sat atop the sheet for the majority of the session, recording best times of 1:10.30s, 1:10.19s and 1:10.04s on his three runs.
Michael Caruso ended the 20 minutes 0.25s adrift in second, with Shane van Gisbergen, Tim Slade and Jason Bright rounding out the top five.
Tyre condition played its usual role in determining the final order, with the majority of the field moving from the hard to the soft compound as the session progressed.
James Courtney and Michael Patrizi both fired off at Turn 3 early in the session, with the latter not returning to the circuit after taking his car back to pitlane.
The drama left Jacques Villeneuve to finish the session off the foot of the charts for the first time in his stint with Kelly Racing. The Canadian improved his time from the second session by almost 2.5s.
A 10 minute break will precede a fourth and final practice session for the day at 1445.
See below for the full session result
| 1 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.0395 | |
| 2 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.2976 | 0:00.2581 |
| 3 | SP Tools Racing | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.4077 | 0:00.3682 |
| 4 | Lucky 7 Racing | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.5177 | 0:00.4782 |
| 5 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.5195 | 0:00.4800 |
| 6 | Irwin Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.5513 | 0:00.5118 |
| 7 | VIP Petfoods | Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.5864 | 0:00.5469 |
| 8 | Team Hiflex | Tony D’Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.6282 | 0:00.5887 |
| 9 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.6322 | 0:00.5927 |
| 10 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.6734 | 0:00.6339 |
| 11 | Team Norton DJR | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.6810 | 0:00.6415 |
| 12 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.7533 | 0:00.7138 |
| 13 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.7991 | 0:00.7596 |
| 14 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.8277 | 0:00.7882 |
| 15 | Trading Post FPR Ford | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.8396 | 0:00.8001 |
| 16 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.8474 | 0:00.8079 |
| 17 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.8627 | 0:00.8232 |
| 18 | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:10.8641 | 0:00.8246 |
| 19 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:10.9258 | 0:00.8863 |
| 20 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.0837 | 0:01.0442 |
| 21 | Jim Beam Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 1:11.1385 | 0:01.0990 |
| 22 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.2214 | 0:01.1819 |
| 23 | Team iSelect | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.4069 | 0:01.3674 |
| 24 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.5880 | 0:01.5485 |
| 25 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:11.9223 | 0:01.8828 |
| 26 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.4999 | 0:02.4604 |
| 27 | Pepsi Max Crew | Jaques Villeneuve | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:12.5887 | 0:02.5492 |
| 28 | Tekno Autosports | Michael Patrizi | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:13.1307 | 0:03.0912 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Coates Hire 300 Race Guide
