Scott McLaughlin has narrowly edged out Ford Performance Racing duo Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom to end the third V8 Supercars practice session in Adelaide on top of the time sheets.

The reigning Dunlop Series winner recorded a best of 1:21.57s on his final lap of the 30 minute hit-out as new tyres brought about a flurry of fast times.

Davison moved to within 0.08s of the Fujitsu Racing Holden after the chequered flag fell, bumping team-mate Winterbottom to third.

Walkinshaw Holden drivers Russell Ingall and James Courtney continued their strong start to the day in fourth and fifth respectively while Jonathon Webb, Alexandre Premat, Shane van Gisbergen, Scott Pye and Jamie Whincup completed the top 10.

Whincup’s team-mate Craig Lowndes was 14th after completing the longest unbroken spell of the day so far, clocking 18 consecutive laps.

Although just eighth at sessions end, Van Gisbergen again showed the competitiveness of his Tekno Holden package by sitting atop the times for much of the going thanks to an early 1:22.14s effort.

Rick Kelly repeated his Practice 1 effort of 11th fastest. The Jack Daniel’s Nissan had been as high as third halfway through the session, and later survived a brush with the Turn 4 wall in a car he described as being “very aggressive in the rear”.

Kelly’s Nissan stable-mates Caruso,  Moffat and Todd Kelly were 16th, 19th and 21st respectively, with Moffat continuing to fight brakes problems in his Norton-backed entry.

The Erebus Mercedes AMGs of Lee Holdsworth, Tim Slade and Maro Engel filled 24th through 26th as they struggled to match the increasing pace of their rivals.

The fourth and final practice session of the day will commence at 1345, with qualifying and the Top 10 Shootout to follow later in the afternoon.

See below for the full Practice 3 result

See below for Speedcafe.com’s Clipsal 500 Adelaide Race Guide