Aaron Tebb beached his car at The Chase 13 minutes into the session, bringing out the first of the red flags, while Peter Rullo suffered significant front end damage in an incident at the same part of the track close to the session’s end, bringing it to a close four minutes early.

Dumbrell’s top time, a 2:10.3881, came on his sixth lap with 11 minutes left on the clock.

Runner-up Cameron Waters went over in 2:10.5876, while Ash Walsh was third fastest with a 2:10.6532.

Walsh remained uncertain in his assessment of the new surface at Mount Panorama, saying teams will likely need plenty of time to adjust to the change.

“It was quite slippery, surprisingly. We thought it might have been a bit grippy with the resurfacing. I know a lot of the guys have been saying this morning that you tend to lose the rear a lot in a few of those fast corners,” he said.

“Obviously we need to try and tune the cars up a bit to try and suit it.”

Walsh says his Infants’ Friend team will need every second of every practice session to try to make adjustments to his Ford FG prior to qualifying.

“The session was a little bit disrupted, but we still got the laps. It was just a bit confusing trying to tune the car with the tendency for the rear to slide, but being pushy in other places,” he said.

“Hopefully it will be set before qualifying.

“I think everything’s going well. It’s just working on the little things now, like the pit stops with the team, and I think we’re in for a good weekend.”

Dumbrell was on top for virtually the whole session, his early time of 2:10.6681 not touched by the field for a long time.

He then knocked almost three tenths off that in a time that would remain the session’s quickest.

Waters had a chance to knock that time off as he went fastest through the first and second sectors on the following lap, but fell short of the mark.

Qualifying for the Dunlop Series 250 kilometre race begins at 3.55pm on Friday.