Mercedes sees red at Bathurst practice Crashing out at Mount Panorama practice not once, but twice on Thursday was hard enough to swallow. But the Mercedes team believes it was behind the eight ball from the outset ahead of Sunday's Bathurst 1000 - and fellow V8 Supercars newcomers Nissan agree. Outspoken billionaire Mercedes team owner Betty Klimenko couldn't believe her bad luck when Andrew Thompson hit a tyre wall in the middle session, but things went from bad to worse when lead driver Tim Slade drove the hastily repaired Benz into the wall in an incident-packed final practice. In all, three red flags were waved in the final session before defending champion and Holden's series leader Jamie Whincup (two minutes, 8.32 seconds) emerged quickest ahead of Mark Winterbottom (2:09.05) and fellow Ford threat David Reynolds (2:09.33). But Westfield heiress Klimenko was already seeing red over what she believes is the failure of V8 Supercars to adequately cater for her team's fuel economy issues at the Great Race. Seven compulsory pit-stops must be made by teams in Sunday's 161-lap epic, a move officials believe adequately caters for Mercedes and Nissan's higher fuel consumption rates against the more efficient Holdens and Fords. However, the tattooed Klimenko was still left tearing her pink hair out. "I have had it explained to me a thousand times and don't see how they don't see that we have to carry 30 kilos more fuel and have over the Bathurst race about 20 more seconds all together more in the pit lane," she wrote on Facebook. And this is equal? Nup, sorry, don't see it...for frack's sake give me an inch here. Thompson couldn't help but snipe after brake failure forced him to crash out in the second practice session. It was always going to be a tough weekend for us with our fuel issue. That's a penalty for us before the lights even go out," he said. Nissan driver Todd Kelly admitted more could be done for the newcomers to ensure a level playing field, particularly in the enduros. "Based on where we were at in (opening enduro) Sandown we are looking at 25 seconds of additional fuel time at Bathurst," he told AAP. We are probably trying to catch up on 15 years of experience (gained by their Holden-Ford rivals) in a matter of eight or nine months. When you have an apple and an orange, it doesn't matter what you do, you are never going to make them taste or look the same - an engine is no different. Officials initially trialled an experimental ethanol blend to help fuel economy in the Nissans and Mercedes. But that was scrapped after Holden - the category's most successful brand - led the griping following Nissan's shock race win at Winton in August, branding the blend "jungle juice." Lee Holdsworth led the way for Mercedes (seventh fastest) in the final practice session while Nissan's quickest was Michael Caruso (16th). Bathurst 1000 qualifying will be held from 1500 AEDT on Friday.