Expectations that Volvo can contend for victory in its first V8 Supercars race this evening have been further heightened by a strong performance from Scott McLaughlin in final practice.

The 20-year-old repeated his performance from Friday evening’s second qualifying session by again setting the second fastest time.

McLaughlin’s final lap of 1:20.94s proved just 0.007s shy of Fabian Coulthard’s benchmark in Practice 4.

The Lockwood Holden topped the order form the halfway mark, with Coulthard improving his own best time inside the final 10 minutes to cement the position.

Coulthard had also set the final quickest in Practice 3 on Friday before managing just 10th and 16th in the two qualifying sessions.

“The car feels pretty good,” he said after Practice 4.

“We were a little unlucky in qualifying that the car didn’t generate the grip we expected, but it seems to be back to where it should be now.”

Jason Bright, Tim Slade, Michael Caruso, Jamie Whincup, Rick Kelly, Shane van Gisbegen, David Wall and Will Davison completed a top 10 that again saw all five manufacturers represented.

Todd Kelly meanwhile failed to complete a lap after his Altima dropped onto seven cylinders. A new VK56DE will be installed ahead of this evening’s races.

“It’s a shame because we had something new we wanted to try in the session,” said Kelly.

“It just went onto seven cylinders behind the pits and it’s not something we can fix (without changing the engine).”

See below for the full Practice 4 result