James Courtney led a Walkinshaw Racing lock-out of the top three places in the third and final Friday practice session at the Sydney NRMA 500.
The 2010 V8 Supercars champion knocked team-mate Garth Tander from the top spot with the chequered flag flying.
Courtney’s best effort of 1:28.12s was the fastest time of the three 20 minute hit-outs, eclipsing Tander by just 0.04s.
Tim Slade was third in Walkinshaw’s Supercheap Auto backed entry ahead of Scott Pye in the leading Dick Johnson Racing Ford.
Jamie Whincup had set the pace for much of the session before dropping to 11th during the final flurry of fast times.
Team-mate Craig Lowndes was 14th, with both among those to save their best tyres for Saturday morning’s final practice.
Marcos Ambrose continued his steady return to the championship in DJR’s wildcard, ending the day 24th.
The two-time champion had sat last on the sheets at the conclusion of the 20 minutes, before moving to within 1.44s of the pace with his final effort.
Ambrose was one place ahead of Winterbottom, who ended a quiet day for the #5 Pepsi FPR Falcon in 25th.
All 26 cars took part in the session following repairs to the Jason Bright Holden and James Moffat Nissan, which tagged the wall in separate Practice 2 incidents.
V8 Supercars Practice 3 Results
| 1 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 1:28.1214 | |
| 2 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 1:28.1634 | 0:00.0420 |
| 3 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1:28.2826 | 0:00.1612 |
| 4 | Wilson Security Racing | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG | 1:28.3523 | 0:00.2309 |
| 5 | Team Tekno VIP Petfoods | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 1:28.4097 | 0:00.2883 |
| 6 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Lee Holdsworth | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:28.4336 | 0:00.3122 |
| 7 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 1:28.4796 | 0:00.3582 |
| 8 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 1:28.4824 | 0:00.3610 |
| 9 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 1:28.5788 | 0:00.4574 |
| 10 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | 1:28.6689 | 0:00.5475 |
| 11 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1:28.6745 | 0:00.5531 |
| 12 | Norton Hornets | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | 1:28.7319 | 0:00.6105 |
| 13 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VF | 1:28.7563 | 0:00.6349 |
| 14 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1:28.7903 | 0:00.6689 |
| 15 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Ford Falcon FG | 1:28.9404 | 0:00.8190 |
| 16 | Norton Hornets | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1:28.9839 | 0:00.8625 |
| 17 | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG | 1:29.0009 | 0:00.8795 |
| 18 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:29.0777 | 0:00.9563 |
| 19 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1:29.1229 | 0:01.0015 |
| 20 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Will Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 1:29.1679 | 0:01.0465 |
| 21 | Walkinshaw Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.3467 | 0:01.2253 |
| 22 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Robert Dahlgren | Volvo S60 | 1:29.3637 | 0:01.2423 |
| 23 | Team Advam/GB | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 1:29.4684 | 0:01.3470 |
| 24 | XBOX Racing DJR | Marcos Ambrose | Ford Falcon FG | 1:29.5591 | 0:01.4377 |
| 25 | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 1:29.5720 | 0:01.4506 |
| 26 | Team JELD-WEN | Jack Perkins | Ford Falcon FG | 1:29.8342 | 0:01.7128 |
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