Matt Payne has set the fastest time in the opening Bathurst 1000 practice session at Mount Panorama.
The 22-year-old shot to the top of the timing charts in the dying minutes of the hour-long session to be narrowly ahead of Cam Waters and championship leader Will Brown on Thursday.
He finished with a best lap time of two minutes and 7.294 seconds, just 3.023s short of reigning series champion Brodie Kostecki’s qualifying record set last year.
Sitting fifth in the Supercars championship, Grove Racing driver Payne is paired with five-time Bathurst winner Garth Tander, with the co-drivers to hit the track later on Thursday.
Andre Heimgartner was left kicking himself after going faster than Payne in the first and second sectors before going too wide at the final turn.
The Brad Jones Racing driver battled throughout the session, suffering a complete power-steering failure in the opening 15 minutes before being made to abandon a lap after going straight through the gravel near turn 10.
He finished 13th fastest, while Brown’s Triple Eight teammate Broc Feeney and co-driver Jamie Whincup were in 15th.
Waters’ Tickford teammate Thomas Randle was able to place fifth after missing out on 35 minutes with a suspected power-steering pump issue.
Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, second in the championship standings, was eighth.
Supercars legend Craig Lowndes and co-driver Cooper Murray in the Chevrolet Camaro finished last in 26th, while fellow wildcard entrants Matt Chahda and Brad Vaughan were 24th.
