Scott McLaughlin emerged fastest from an action-filled final practice which was delayed by heavy downpour at Symmons Plains.
Torrential rain at the 2.4km circuit forced officials to delay the start by 10 minutes while rivers of waters cleared from the track.
McLaughlin was among those to show strong pace in tricky wet conditions before he came into his own with a last gasp effort on a drying track.
Equipped with slicks as a dry line appeared, the DJR Team Penske driver posted a 51.63s effort to top the time sheets.
The Kiwi had topped the times with a 56.0s time before the majority of the field switched to slicks.
Shane van Gisbergen once again showed his class in the slippery conditions before he translated his pace on slicks in the final 10 minutes of the session.
The Red Bull HRT pilot was pipped by McLaughlin at the death by 0.17s.
Tekno Autosports Will Davison was third ahead of the Shell Ford of Fabian Coulthard, who enjoyed spells at the top of the timesheets in the challenging conditions.
Among those to improve as the track dried was Cameron Waters by slotting his Monster Enegery Ford into fifth.
His team-mate Chaz Mostert was sixth while David Reynolds (Erebus Motorsport), James Moffat (GRM), James Courtney (Mobil 1 HSV Racing) and Jamie Whincup (Red Bull HRT) rounded out the top 10.
Nissan Motorsport showed encouraging wet pace across all four of its cars, but slipped down the order as the track dried.
Michael Caruso was the top Nissan in 13th position following an eventful session that saw him bring out the red flag after five minutes.
Caruso ran deep into the gravel trap at Turn 4 during the wet conditions earlier in the session.
Craig Lowndes ended the session at the bottom of the timesheets after making a late switch to slicks.
The Triple Eight driver had topped the session on a sopping wet circuit.
“The car is working really well but I didn’t get on to the slick tyre soon enough,” said Lowndes.
“We made a last-minute change which was a positive one but we couldn’t do a lap.
“Although the timesheets show one thing we’re really happy with the car in both the wet and dry.”
The Supercars return for a 15 minute qualifying session at 1350 to set the grid for today’s 50 lap race from 1645.
Result: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Tyrepower Tasmania Super Sprint Practice 3
1 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG/X | 0:51.6333*SS | |
2 | Red Bull Holden Racing Aust | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 0:51.8034 SS | 00.1701 |
3 | TEKNO Woodstock Racing | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 0:51.8274 SS | 00.1941 |
4 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG/X | 0:51.8870 SS | 00.2537 |
5 | Monster Energy Racing | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 0:51.9253 SS | 00.2920 |
6 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG/X | 0:51.9464 SS | 00.3131 |
7 | Erebus Penrite Racing | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VF | 0:52.0048 SS | 00.3715 |
8 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | James Moffat | Holden Commodore VF | 0:52.0803 SS | 00.4470 |
9 | Mobil 1 HSV Racing | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 0:52.1109 SS | 00.4776 |
10 | Red Bull Holden Racing Aust | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 0:52.2146 SS | 00.5813 |
11 | BIANTE 1:1 | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 0:52.2323 SS | 00.5990 |
12 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 0:52.2928 SS | 00.6595 |
13 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 0:52.2968 SS | 00.6635 |
14 | Preston Hire Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 0:52.3226 SS | 00.6893 |
15 | carsales Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 0:52.3255 SS | 00.6922 |
16 | Freightliner Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 0:52.3973 SS | 00.7640 |
17 | Sengled Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 0:52.4682 SS | 00.8349 |
18 | Erebus GB Galvanizing Racing | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 0:52.4800 SS | 00.8467 |
19 | MEGA Racing | Jason Bright | Ford Falcon FG/X | 0:52.5570 SS | 00.9237 |
20 | Team CoolDrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 0:52.6024 SS | 00.9691 |
21 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 0:52.6686 SS | 01.0353 |
22 | Mobil 1 HSV Racing | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore VF | 0:53.0370 SS | 01.4037 |
23 | Team Harvey Norman | Simona De Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 0:53.4788 SS | 01.8455 |
24 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VF | 0:53.5271 SS | 01.8938 |
25 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Alex Rullo | Holden Commodore VF | 0:53.6671 SS | 02.0338 |
26 | TeamVortex | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 0:54.0889 SS | 02.4556 |