Jack Le Brocq squeezed ahead of Will Brown in another tight practice to wrap up Friday’s action at Sandown.
Le Brocq’s 1:08.2772 recorded around the halfway mark proved to be 0.0394s clear of Brown in what was the fastest Gen3 lap at the historic circuit.
Andre Heimgartner completed a strong day for BJR to be third as Richie Stanaway and Broc Feeney completed the top five.
Le Brocq’s new benchmark was two tenths faster than the fastest time of 2023 set by Erebus teammate Brodie Kostecki.
Aside from a Bryce Fullwood lockup there were no major moments in practice 3, but Cameron Hill only got six laps due to a bent right front shock absorber bolt.
With rain forecast for Saturday, teams were determined to get as much milage as possible in possibly the last fully dry session prior to the race.
Heimgartner and Feeney took turns in P1 in the opening minutes as the margins were meagre straight away as 0.0964s covering the top four also containing Kostecki and Payne.
However, all of them were trumped by Brown, who set purple first and third sectors to go a tenth clear with a 1:08.3270.
Whilst some teams took the chance to perform plenty of driver-change practice, others kept pressing on.
One of those was Erebus with Le Brocq sneaking ahead by 0.0498s in the #9 Erebus Camaro, which proved to be enough to take the session.
There was a learning moment for the Matt Chahda wildcard as it baulked Mostert coming out of Turn 9 and the WAU driver, who sat 24th, expressed his frustration by shadowing the rear of the #118 Camaro.
Everyone aside from Hill returned to the track in the final minutes but not many drivers made massive improvements.
Randle and Mostert were down below 20th, but both managed to rise to sixth and eighth respectively.
Fullwood, who was 11th, had a big lockup going into turn 1 and speared off.
Although teams bolted on fresh tyres at the end, few were able to find time at the death, leaving plenty of food for thought for what could be a wet Saturday.
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