It was Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters who fired the first shot for Supercars at Mount Panorama today by setting the fastest time in Practice 1.
Waters set a 2m 05.0233s to hold a slight 0.0842s margin from Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, while Shell V-Power Racing’s Will Davison placed third.
Brad Jones Racing’s Macauley Jones failed to make a lap after a power steering problem forced him to stop and a red flag called.
A few co-drivers took part in the session as Dean Fiore (Todd Hazelwood’s BJR Commodore), James Golding (Scott Pye’s Dewalt Commodore) and Jonathan Webb (Fabian Coulthard’s Team Sydney Commodore) completed the final run for each entry.
Jones was able to return for the final 10-minutes to place 23rd.
Apart from the power steering failure endured by Jones, there were no other problems throughout the session.
Behind the top three, James Courtney made it a double for Tickford Racing within the top four as Mark Winterbottom in the Irwin Commodore rounded out the first five.
Just 0.6s separated the top dozen, with Tim Slade, Shane van Gisbergen, Hazelwood/Fiore, Nick Percat and Brodie Kostecki completed the 10.
Starting his final race weekend as a full-time driver, Jamie Whincup placed 11th.
Practice 2 for Additional Drivers begins at 4:25pm AEDT.