Photo: V8 Supercars Media

Fabian Coulthard breaks practice lap record in Bathurst P3

Brad Jones Racing driver Fabian Coulthard left it to the last minute of practice on Thursday to pull out a time of 2:05.4786 to finish the day fastest of all, smashing his own practice lap record set last year of 2:05.6080 at Mount Panorama.

The third practice session was the only one of the day that wasn’t interrupted by a red flag, with only 26 cars taking part, after the #15 Nissan Altima was forced to sit it out after heavy damage sustained in second practice, when co-driver David Russell slammed the car into the wall at The Cutting after 25 minutes.

First place changed hands eight times during the final 45 minute practice of the day. David Reynolds set the benchmark in the Rod Nash Racing Ford Falcon FG X, before Garth Tander moved to the fore in the Holden Racing Team Commodore.

Scott McLaughlin then briefly held the top spot in the Garry Rogers Motorsport Volvo S60, before Reynolds snatched it back before ten minutes of the session was up.

The two Pepsi Max-backed Prodrive Racing Australia cars then moved towards the top of the time sheets, with championship leader Mark Winterbottom ahead of team-mate and title rival Chaz Mostert. Winterbottom was the first driver under 2:07 in the session, and was edging closer to the 2:06.3 set by Mostert in the first practice, before a slew of improvements came on new tyres right at the end of the session.

David Reynolds was the first to break under 2:06, and went fastest with a time of 2:05.7315, but Fabian Coulthard then blew that time away with a lap of 2:05.4786 to end the session, and indeed the day, fastest of all.

Mark Winterbottom put in a late improvement to go second fastest, just 0.0998 behind Coulthard, with Reynolds forced to settle for third.

Last year’s Bathurst champion Chaz Mostert was fourth fastest, meaning three of PRA’s cars were in the top four, with Shane Van Gisbergen fifth fastest in the Tekno Autosports Holden, just ahead of future Triple Eight team-mate Craig Lowndes.

James Moffat was the best placed Nissan in seventh, with Brad Jones Racing’s Jason Bright, HRT’s Garth Tander and Nissan’s Michael Caruso completing the top ten.

The best placed Volvo was that of Scott McLaughlin in 13th, 1.1 seconds off of the overall pace, with Will Davison the best placed of the Erebus Mercedes E63s in 20th.

Six-time champion Jamie Whincup struggled in the session and ended up 15th fastest in his Triple Eight Race Engineering-run Holden Commodore.

Next up is another co-driver only practice session at 9:10 AEST on Friday.