Davison leads Waters, Kostecki in Practice 3

Will Davison has paced his third session of the week with the fastest time in Friday morning practice.

Davison clocked a 2:04.207s to top the time sheets in Practice 3.

The Shell V-Power Racing Team driver kicked off the weekend with the best time in Practice 1.

Davison led Cam Waters, whose Thursday featured an error at Murray’s Corner in first practice.

"We're at the top, we don't look into that too much," Davison said.

"Clearly we're trending in the right direction, we've been trying some stuff here because we weren't good enough here last year.

"I'm glad we've got some dry running to get the knowledge we have.

"It's really enjoyable; track's definitely not as good as yesterday."

Brodie Kostecki was third, but it was another trying outing for Shane van Gisbergen.

The series leader made dual errors, headlined by an off at The Chase, and wound up 10th.

Kostecki set the early running on a 2:04.835s before he handed over to co-driver David Russell.

The Erebus driver later lowered his own benchmark to a 2:04.793s.

Van Gisbergen slotted into second on a 2:05.037s; his lap was compromised by an error at the final corner.

Andre Heimgartner moved into second on a 2:04.954s before Waters began to find speed.

Waters first clocked a 2:04.878s before going to the top on a 2:04.573s with 40 minutes remaining.

The running order was jumbled as teams balanced heavy and light fuel loads.

The 60-minute session was also the first of the weekend to feature fuel stop practice.

Still, drivers pushed to find time with the threat of rain hovering over the circuit.

Notably, Waters ran long at the final corner just on the halfway mark.

With 26 minutes to go, Chaz Mostert rose to third on a 2:04.889s.

Van Gisbergen loomed to vault to the top before he backed out at Forrest’s Elbow.

The series leader carried on and was 0.2s up through the second sector, but made another error, this time at The Chase.

Van Gisbergen remonstrated over the radio, complaining about braking instability.

He later handed over to Garth Tander, who paced Thursday afternoon’s co-driver session.

All the while, Waters improved the benchmark to a 2:04.407s before handing over to co-driver James Moffat.

In the final 10 minutes, Davison jumped to second on a 2:04.654s, but was still 0.24s down on Waters.

The two-time Bathurst winner turned up the wick and fired in the best final sector to record a 2:04.207s.

Davison loomed to go even faster, but caught traffic across the top of the Mountain.

Cars will return to the track for all-in Practice 4 at 1:00pm local time.

Drivers will set the running order for Saturday’s Shootout in qualifying at 4:15pm.