Richie Stanaway has emerged on top of the time sheets in Practice 5 for the Bathurst 1000, the final co-driver-only session before tomorrow’s Great Race.
Stanaway, who is partnering with Shane van Gisbergen at Red Bull Ampl Racing, set an early 2:06.0496, which stood as the fastest time; however, competitors used the session as an opportunity to test race pace in long runs.
The field remained on track for the majority of the one-hour session, with Stanaway cutting 23 laps and second-fastest Garth Tander (David Reynolds) completing 17.
Zane Goddard (Craig Lowndes), in the #888 Triple Eight wildcard, was third fastest, ahead of Jayden Ojeda (Jack Le Brocq), Jaylyn Robotham (Cameron Hill), Tony D’Alberto (Anto De Pasquale, Jake Kostecki (Aaron Love) and Jamie Whincup (Broc Feeney), respectively.
Kiwi Fabian Coulthard (Nick Percat) was 15th quickest, completing 18 laps with a best time of 2:07.6138.
Jaxon Evans (Jack Smith) continues to show progress behind the wheel on the SCT Motorsport Camaro, finishing with the 19th-fastest time from 20 laps completed.
Kevin Estre, who is co-driving for the in-form Matt Payne, also continues to show improvement and was able to complete 25 laps to go 17th quickest.
Dale Wood, the co-driver for Andre Heimgartner, was 21st.
Supercars return for a final practice session at 3.00 pm this afternoon, ahead of the Top 10 Shootout, which features Payne and van Gisbergen, at 7.05 pm.
Sunday’s Bathurst 1000 starts at 1.15 pm.
Header Image: Supercars