Jamie Whincup proved almost three quarters of a second faster than the field during a red flag hit final Thursday practice session at Bathurst.

Three red flags punctuated the session, beginning with a major hit for Tim Slade’s Erebus Mercedes.

Having been hurriedly repaired following co-driver Andrew Thompson’s brake failure induced crash in the earlier session, Slade completed just two flying laps before finding the wall at The Cutting.

An accident for Alex Davison at Reid Park a short time later caused a second stoppage, while a mechanical problem for Jason Bright and a crash for Todd Kelly brought the total red flags to three.

Bright had been fastest with 10 minutes remaining when he suffered a spectacular driveline failure coming down Conrod.

The session was subsequently extended until its time cut-off, allowing for a final 10 minutes of running.

Whincup easily proved fastest of all, running a 2:08.75s and then 2:08.32s to move a full second clear of the field.

A late effort from Mark Winterbottom dragged the gap back to 0.7s, while Ford Performance Racing stable-mates David Reynolds and Will Davison completed the top four.

Shane van Gisbergen and Jason Bright, who missed the end of the session, were fifth and sixth respectively, with the top Mercedes of Lee Holdsworth seventh.

Two more practice sessions will take place on Friday morning ahead of the afternoon’s qualifying session.

Although Whincup dominated the field, the Red Bull Holden was a full second adrift of the fastest Thursday time last year.

See below for the Practice 3 result