By Shaun Summerfield
Usually it's the top 10 shootout which provides the biggest pre-race excitement at Bathurst, but the pace shown already this year means tonight's qualifying will create history.
Jamie Whincup's lap near the end of the final practice session was nothing short of outstanding, as the Triple Eight driver became the first to put a car in the 'fours', with a lap of 2 minutes 4.9097 seconds.
Whincup was typically understated about the achievement.
"We're just going about our job trying to make the buggy as quick as possible. We won't get too carried away with practice."
Fabian Coulthard was the best of the Kiwi drivers, 5th fastest with 2 minutes 05.65 seconds. His time was a tenth-of-a-second quicker than Shane Van Gisbergen. Scott McLaughlin was just outside the top ten in 11th.
Coulthard won't be short of confidence though, after briefly holding the lap record* of 2 minutes 05.4786 seconds which he set on Thursday.
Official lap records are only set during a race, but since Greg Murphy's Lap of the Gods in 2003, the fastest lap of Mount Panorama has always held a special status.
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