Reigning Bathurst 1000 champion Chaz Mostert has thrown down the gauntlet to V8 Supercar rivals by storming to victory in the Super Shootout at the pre-season test event.

The 22-year-old claimed victory at Sydney Motorsport Park by just 0.0087 of a second over Shane van Gisbergen, with James Courtney third in the battle for fastest lap.

Six-time champion Jamie Whincup finished a disappointing 12th as he prepares for his title defence starting with the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide at the end of the month.

Yet to claim a V8 Supercars pole position, Mostert was debuting the new FG X Falcon this weekend and praised his team for getting the car ready for the start of the season.

“The guys at PRA (Prodrive Racing Australia) have done a massive job over Christmas. They didn’t have a day off so it’s really rewarding for those guys to get a new car on the track,” he said.

“It hasn’t skipped a beat all weekend and when the time counts we could do a quick lap in it so it’s a bit better than what we had last year with the FG.”

It was a strong afternoon for PRA with teammate Mark Winterbottom finishing fourth.

After James Moffat set the pace early with his 1m31.11s, Mostert stormed into the lead with an impressive 1:30.65 and held on for the win.

In his return to the track following a nasty crash at the 2014 season-ending Sydney 500, Craig Lowndes finished sixth with 1:31.26.

The heat wreaked havoc with the times as several drivers struggled with lack of grip as the track temperature staying close to 50 degrees.

Earlier, Winterbottom was the standout in the morning practice session.

The conditions stopped many of the drivers from showcasing their best, but Winterbottom defied the heat to shoot to the top of the leaderboard with a little under four minutes to go.

Saturday saw a clean sweep for Nissan Motorsport with the Kelly brothers splitting the honours for the day’s practice sessions.

Rick Kelly claimed the opening two sessions, while older brother Todd snuck home ahead of Courtney in the third.