Bathurst 1000: Van Gisbergen tops crash-shortened Practice 4

The long-predicted wet weather finally arrived for the fourth hour-long session, with rain falling for the duration.

Will Davison initially led the way with a 2m35.451s before van Gisbergen lowered the benchmark to a 2m31.992s.

Not long after the session was red flagged after Todd Hazelwood, who had just gone second fastest, buried his Matt Stone Racing Holden into the wall at Griffins Bend.

At the same time Andre Heimgartner went off at The Chase while Tim Slade slapped the wall on the way out of The Dipper.

When the session resumed it was Richie Stanaway that charged to the front. The Kiwi, making his first Supercars start since the end of the 2019 season, first went second quickest with a 2m32.183s.

He then jumped van Gisbergen with a 2m31.840s shortly afterwards.

The session was red flagged for a second time at the midway point of the session after Macauley Jones went off at The Chase, brushed the wall and then ended up stranded in the sand.

Once the session was green again there was a fascinating battle between the two lead Triple Eight cars.

Van Gisbergen went fastest with a 2m31.603s only to be immediately usurped by Jamie Whincup in the #88 entry, who set a 2m31.296.

Van Gisbergen hit back on his very next lap, though, pulling a second clear of Whincup with a 2m30.292s.

Moments later the red flag appeared for a third time after Will Brown swiped the wall at The Cutting.

That proved to be the end of the session, race control opting to declare the session before the Erebus Holden had been retrieved.

James Courtney jumped to third fastest right before the red flag, which demoted Stanaway to a still-impressive fourth place.

That was a welcomed result for the Kiwi after two earlier sessions were hampered by mechanical issues.

"It's great to have a better session. We went from the bottom of the timing screen to the top," said Stanaway.

"I would have preferred to have some good laps in the dry to see what the car is capable of, but it looks like we might not get that.

"But it's good to get some laps in before qualifying because it looks like we might be in the same conditions."

Brown set the fifth fastest time right before his crash followed by Anton De Pasquale, David Reynolds and Andre Heimgartner.

Will Davison and Craig Lowndes rounded out the best 10, the latter surviving a hairy moment at pit entry when he aquaplaned into the mud and water blasted the front grill off his Commodore.

The Bathurst 1000 action continues with qualifying at 4:15pm local time.

Cla	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Shane van Gisbergen Garth Tander	Holden Commodore ZB	14	2'30.2922
2	Broc Feeney Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	15	2'31.2961	1.0039
3	James Courtney Zane Goddard	Ford Mustang GT	15	2'31.7691	1.4769
4	Richie Stanaway Greg Murphy	Holden Commodore ZB	13	2'31.8404	1.5482
5	Will Brown Jack Perkins	Holden Commodore ZB	14	2'31.9747	1.6825
6	Anton De Pasquale Tony D'Alberto	Ford Mustang GT	14	2'31.9992	1.7070
7	David Reynolds Matt Campbell	Ford Mustang GT	12	2'32.1132	1.8210
8	Andre Heimgartner Dale Wood	Holden Commodore ZB	14	2'32.1815	1.8893
9	Will Davison Alex Davison	Ford Mustang GT	14	2'32.2198	1.9276
10	Craig Lowndes Declan Fraser	Holden Commodore ZB	14	2'32.4520	2.1598
11	Chaz Mostert Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore ZB	15	2'32.4702	2.1780
12	Cameron Waters James Moffat	Ford Mustang GT	14	2'32.5555	2.2633
13	Jake Kostecki Kurt Kostecki	Ford Mustang GT	14	2'32.6845	2.3923
14	Todd Hazelwood Jayden Ojeda	Holden Commodore ZB	3	2'32.8581	2.5659
15	Brodie Kostecki David Russell	Holden Commodore ZB	12	2'32.9217	2.6295
16	Lee Holdsworth Matthew Payne	Ford Mustang GT	12	2'33.1430	2.8508
17	Jack Smith Jaxon Evans	Holden Commodore ZB	15	2'33.3153	3.0231
18	Thomas Randle Zak Best	Ford Mustang GT	12	2'33.5595	3.2673
19	Macauley Jones Jordan Boys	Holden Commodore ZB	10	2'34.3103	4.0181
20	James Golding Dylan O'Keeffe	Holden Commodore ZB	13	2'34.6340	4.3418
21	Nick Percat Warren Luff	Holden Commodore ZB	14	2'34.9993	4.7071
22	Bryce Fullwood Dean Fiore	Holden Commodore ZB	12	2'35.2556	4.9634
23	Jack Le Brocq Aaron Seton	Holden Commodore ZB	12	2'35.7509	5.4587
24	Mark Winterbottom Michael Caruso	Holden Commodore ZB	8	2'35.7535	5.4613
25	Tim Slade Tim Blanchard	Ford Mustang GT	6	2'35.9665	5.6743
26	Chris Pither Cameron Hill	Holden Commodore ZB	12	2'36.5920	6.2998
27	Matt Chahda Jaylyn Robotham	Holden Commodore ZB	12	2'36.5950	6.3028
28	Scott Pye Tyler Everingham	Holden Commodore ZB	8	2'37.9358	7.6436
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