James Moffat and Nissan continued their fine Friday form at Winton by topping Saturday morning’s final practice session prior to qualifying.
The Norton-backed driver set off on a rapid two lap run in the final minutes, immediately eclipsing the previous best of team-mate Rick Kelly by 0.23s.
Tim Slade managed to split the Nissans moments later in his Mercedes, ensuring a lock-out of the top three from the new-for-2013 manufacturers.
After a typically quiet Friday, championship leader Jamie Whincup spent a large portion of the session in the garage making changes.
A single lap final run was good enough to lift the Red Bull Holden from 19th to a high of second, eventually ending up fourth.
The fastest times in qualifying are expected to come on the first lap of each tyre set with those running good tyres in practice, including Moffat, generally losing their rears on the second lap.
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David Reynolds, Craig Lowndes, Lee Holdsworth, Dean Fiore, Scott Pye and Will Davison completed the top 10.
An almost 10 minute red flag delay was required early in the session to retrieve Tim Blanchard’s car from the Turn 4 gravel.
The Dick Johnson Racing Ford was returned to pitlane on a flatbed with rear-end damage and did not make it back out for the remainder of the session.
The session was run in dry and sunny conditions, allowing Moffat to lap over a second quicker than he had to top Friday.
See below for the Practice 3 result
| 1 | Norton 360 Racing | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | 01:22.35 | |
| 2 | Heavy Haulage Australia Racing | Tim Slade | Mercedes E63 AMG | 01:22.57 | 00:00.22 |
| 3 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 01:22.57 | 00:00.23 |
| 4 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 01:22.69 | 00:00.35 |
| 5 | The Bottle-O FPR Ford | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 01:22.71 | 00:00.37 |
| 6 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 01:22.84 | 00:00.49 |
| 7 | Irwin Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Mercedes E63 AMG | 01:22.84 | 00:00.50 |
| 8 | Dodo Insurance Racing | Dean Fiore | Holden Commodore VF | 01:22.92 | 00:00.57 |
| 9 | ekol Racing | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore VF | 01:22.95 | 00:00.61 |
| 10 | Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 01:22.97 | 00:00.62 |
| 11 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | 01:22.98 | 00:00.63 |
| 12 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.01 | 00:00.67 |
| 13 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.02 | 00:00.67 |
| 14 | Team HIFLEX | Tony D’Alberto | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.07 | 00:00.73 |
| 15 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.18 | 00:00.84 |
| 16 | Norton 360 Racing | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 01:23.21 | 00:00.86 |
| 17 | SP Tools Racing | Maro Engel | Mercedes E63 AMG | 01:23.23 | 00:00.89 |
| 18 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.32 | 00:00.97 |
| 19 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 01:23.32 | 00:00.97 |
| 20 | Wilson Security Racing | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG | 01:23.32 | 00:00.98 |
| 21 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.33 | 00:00.99 |
| 22 | TEKNO Team VIP | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.36 | 00:01.01 |
| 23 | Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 01:23.41 | 00:01.07 |
| 24 | Jeld-wen FPR Ford | Alex Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 01:23.53 | 00:01.18 |
| 25 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.53 | 00:01.19 |
| 26 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.71 | 00:01.36 |
| 27 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 01:23.88 | 00:01.53 |
| 28 | Wilson Security Racing | Tim Blanchard | Ford Falcon FG | 01:25.09 | 00:02.74 |
