Slade sets blistering pace in final practice

Tim Slade posted the fastest ever Supercar lap around Queensland Raceway to top the final practice session at the Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint.

The Brad Jones Racing driver produced an impressive 1:08.97s on a new set of tyres to surge to the top of the times in the final moments of the 45 minute hit out.

Slade managed to dislodge DJR Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin from the head of the field by 0.07s.

“It was a fairly productive session for us to be honest,” said Slade.

“We ran through a good range of things and got pretty good direction as opposed to yesterday.

“It sort of felt it was a little bit muddled and probably not getting the most out of myself either, so I learned a bit from the other boys overnight.

“I wish it was qualifying, I think the conditions are going to change a little bit into qualifying with the temperature and the UV so hopefully we can adapt our set-up to suit that.”

Championship leader McLaughlin led the majority of the session after pumping in a low 1:09s effort 15 minutes in.

The Kiwi continued to improve his pace to post a 1:09.04s which was made all the more impressive given he was on used rubber.

“We used the tyres we used yesterday for our Friday run, so the car’s good,” said McLaughlin.

“I locked up big time into (Turn) 6 (when fastest to s2) and just went a little bit wide but I actually got a pretty reasonable exit on the way out so it didn’t cost me as much as I thought, but it’s just annoying, you want to get it right.”

Team-mate Fabian Coulthard was narrowly shy of McLaughlin in third as the final minutes provided a flurry of fast times.

Reigning Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen (Red Bull Holden) was fourth fastest ahead of the Erebus Motorsport Holden of David Reynolds.

Lee Holdsworth was among a group drivers who improved late on as he snatched sixth spot.

Michael Caruso endured an eventful session which began with his Nissan grinding to halt on circuit with an electrical problem.

The incident brought out the red flags with six minutes on the clock.

After a stint in the garage, Caruso returned to the fray to post a time good enough for seventh ahead of team-mate Rick Kelly.

Todd Hazelwood provided one of the star performances to claim ninth in his Matt Stone Racing wildcard entry.

“We really struggled in the first half of the session, I think we got a pretty dodgy set of tyres from yesterday, had a fair vibration,” said Hazelwood.

“We just couldn’t get a read on the car so we thought we’d throw the greens on early and try and get some idea of where we were at.

“It’s not great, the car, at the moment but obviously relative to the rest of the field it’s not too bad so a little bit of work to do yet.

“I still think there’s probably two or three tenths just in the first sector, the last two sectors we’re really strong, so a little bit of work to do on the high-speed part but can’t be happier.”

Nick Percat (Brad Jones Racing) completed the top 10 in front of Friday pacesetter Chaz Mostert (Prodrive Ford), wildcard runner Jack Le Brocq (MW Motorsport Nissan) and Tim Blanchard (Brad Jones Racing).

Craig Lowndes was 14th, with Triple Eight team-mate Jamie Whincup in 16th, while Mark Winterbottom (Pordrive Ford) was a lowly 24th.

Results: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship: Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint: Practice 3