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Repco Supercars Championship leader Brodie Kostecki has put Erebus Motorsport on top in Practice 3 for the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.
After Triple Eight Race Engineering topped the first two sessions of the event, the latter with a sweep of the top three, Kostecki clocked a 1:08.7125s in the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro to set the pace for the day at Sandown International Motor Raceway.
A Triple Eight entry was not far behind, however, with Broc Feeney finishing 0.0003s slower in the #88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro, while Will Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro) made it both Erebus Chevrolets in the top three.
In fact, it was exclusively Bowties in the top eight, with Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters best of the Ford contingent in ninth on a 1:09.1692s in the #6 Monster Energy Mustang.
Southeast Melbourne’s unseasonably warm Spring weather continued for the third and final session of the day, which was open to all drivers.
Kostecki was immediately on the pace, setting a new fastest lap of the event with a 1:08.9099s on his first flyer and backing that up with a 1:08.7125s next time through.
Practice 1 fast man Feeney became the second driver into the ‘eights’ with a 1:08.9814s before he was usurped by Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro) on a 1:08.9524s and then by Brown on a 1:08.9390s.
Kostecki was set to go even quicker, setting the fastest split to the second sector, but was called to pit rather than complete the lap.
Meanwhile, teams up and down pit lane were practicing pit stops, with a number of crews having trouble trying to change front brake pads with the more complicated Gen3 system.
It was also a pit stop which led to drama of a different kind at Tickford Racing, specifically intra-team contact.
Zak Best, who is co-driving James Courtney’s #5 Mustang, was negotiating the awkward entry to the Sandown lane when he was hit in the left-rear corner by the #55 Castrol Mustang of Thomas Randle/Garry Jacobson, causing bodywork damage to the Snowy River Caravans entry.
Feeney reclaimed second place with a 1:08.7128s at the halfway point before a red flag was called with six-and-a-half minutes to go due to Todd Hazelwood running off and beaching the #3 CoolDrive Mustang at Dandenong Road.
While Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner improved his lap time near the end of the session in the #8 R&J Batteries Camaro, there was no change to the pointy end of the timesheet in terms of positions.
The top four was thus Brodie Kostecki/David Russell, Feeney/Jamie Whincup, Brown/Jack Perkins, and Le Brocq/Jayden Ojeda.
Shane van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway (#97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) took fifth, Heimgartner/Dale Wood remained sixth, Macauley Jones/Jordan Boys (#96 Pizza Hut Camaro) were seventh-fastest, and Mark Winterbottom/Michael Caruso (#18 DeWalt Camaro) ended up eighth.
Waters/James Moffat and Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) rounded out the top 10.
Final practice, another half-hour session open to all drivers, starts tomorrow at 10:45 local time/AEST.
CLICK HERE for full Practice 3 results
