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Supercars Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen continued his fine form at the Castrol Gold Coast 600 with the fastest time in Friday practice.
The Kiwi, who has won the Saturday race at Surfers Paradise in each of the last two years, recorded a 1:10.42s best in the dying stages of the 30 minute Practice 3.
Van Gisbergen and co-driver Alex Premat had been second and third respectively in the day’s opening two sessions, marking themselves as favourites for tomorrow’s 300km contest.
Volvo also proved strong in Practice 3, with Scott McLaughlin putting in two times that were good enough for second in the order.
McLaughlin’s final effort saw him quickest to the second sector before falling 0.16s short of the Red Bull Holden.
“The car is amazing over the kerbs and it’s almost allowing me to take too much, which then gets your lap disallowed,” said McLaughlin.
“But we haven’t really changed anything on the car since it came out of the truck. I’m pretty confident for tomorrow.”
Team-mate James Moffat jumped to third with the chequered flag flying, demoting the leading Ford of Chaz Mostert to fourth.
Jamie Whincup ended up fifth in the second Red Bull entry, admitting to frustration after “not maximising the car” on his green tyre run.
Sixth through 10th were David Reynolds, Scott Pye, Michael Caruso, Will Davison and Nick Percat.
Caruso, who had been atop the order heading into the final three minutes, proved by far the quickest of the four Nissans.
Mark Winterbottom ended a quiet day in 14th while Craig Lowndes avoided damage in a mid-session spin on the way to 18th.
Result: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Castrol Gold Coast 600 Practice 3
| 1 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.42 | |
| 2 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | S.McLaughlin/D.Wall | Volvo S60 | 1:10.57 | 00.15 |
| 3 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | James Moffat | Volvo S60 | 1:10.70 | 00.28 |
| 4 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:10.81 | 00.39 |
| 5 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.94 | 00.52 |
| 6 | Erebus Motorsport Penrite | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VF | 1:10.98 | 00.56 |
| 7 | DJR Team Penske | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:11.00 | 00.58 |
| 8 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1:11.02 | 00.60 |
| 9 | Team Darrell Lea STIX | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.04 | 00.62 |
| 10 | Clipsal 500 Adelaide Racing | N.Percat/C.McConville | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.04 | 00.62 |
| 11 | Freightliner Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.17 | 00.75 |
| 12 | Preston Hire Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.27 | 00.85 |
| 13 | Plus Fitness Racing | Andre Heimgartner | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.27 | 00.85 |
| 14 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:11.30 | 00.88 |
| 15 | DJR Team Penske | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:11.32 | 00.90 |
| 16 | Super Black Racing | Chris Pither | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:11.33 | 00.91 |
| 17 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.37 | 00.95 |
| 18 | TeamVortex | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.38 | 00.96 |
| 19 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.42 | 01.00 |
| 20 | Sengled Motorsport | R.Kelly/R.Ingall | Nissan Altima | 1:11.50 | 01.08 |
| 21 | GB Galvanizing Racing | Dale Wood | Nissan Altima | 1:11.52 | 01.10 |
| 22 | Monster Energy Racing | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 1:11.52 | 01.10 |
| 23 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 1:11.59 | 01.17 |
| 24 | carsales Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:11.63 | 01.21 |
| 25 | Erebus Motorsport | Shae Davies | Holden Commodore VF | 1:12.03 | 01.61 |
| 26 | Team Cooldrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:12.21 | 01.79 |
