Russell topped the time sheets in opening practice yesterday morning, before returning to lower his own mark in the third session, showing that the JBS Australia Lamborghini Gallardo could be the car to beat come race time.

His third lap in session three stopped the clock at two minutes, 4.2332 seconds and gave him a buffer of almost one-and-a-half seconds over his nearest rival, Weng Sun Mok in the Clearwater Racing Ferrari F458.

Mok and his team had been consistently at, or near the top, of the time sheets during the second and third sessions, and would have been hoping for a positive finish with one session still to come late in the afternoon.

But Russell and team-mates Steve Owen and Roger Lago had the bragging rights up until that point.

"David drove that whole third session and did a fantastic job," Owen said afterwards.

"There was nothing particularly exciting that changed from the morning through until the end of the third session, it was just about getting used to the car and small setup changes.

"I'm not sure if we can get faster today or not, it depends on the conditions, but if it were a bit cooler maybe we could get a bit more out of it."

Owen is a 15-time starter in the Bathurst 1000 with a second alongside Jamie Whincup in 2010, while his best 12 Hour result remains a fourth placing in 2008.

Russell, too, is no stranger to the circuit, and according to Owen it gives them a big edge over the opposition.

"It is massive, I recognise most of the names from when we raced at Spa and over there we were novices and got flogged by the guys who knew the circuit well," he said.

"Here it is a complete role reversal and hopefully it is us flogging them. All the best race tracks in the world are hard to get around, so any edge in familiarity gives you a big advantage.

"There are no complaints about the track surface so far, they seem to have properly repaired the damage from the 1000 and hopefully it holds up right through the weekend."

Meanwhile, Owen also weighed in on the contentious driver seeding issue which gave the whole event a major subplot yesterday, with complaints coming thick and fast about some of the more dubious rulings.

With teams compelled to field at least one unseeded driver, some outfits had gotten around the regulation.

Phoenix Racing driver Marco Mapelli, for example, has been classed as being unseeded even though he is a two-time Italian GT champion.

The issue is a complex one, but Owen didn't hold back.

"I think our biggest competition is going to come from any of the teams with incorrectly unseeded drivers," he said bluntly when assessing his team's main dangers.

"There are clearly some mistakes there. If you hurt the amateur drivers and don't give them the chance to compete, they aren't going to come back.

"In a lot of cases it is as though the trophies have already been handed out."

A fifth practice hour will be held this morning at 7.45am before qualifying begins at 12.55pm.