Off the back of Aaron Love’s split with the Box Hill-based team, Cameron was drafted in to drive the #3 CoolDrive Racing Ford Mustang.
Cameron held his own in Practice 1 at the MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint. He spent the lion’s share of the session well off the pace in last place until putting on a new set of tyres.
Drivers classed as “rookies” by Supercars are given an extra set of tyres in Practice 1 of every event this year.
Cameron made the most of his new Dunlop tyres. In the end, he was 10th overall and 0.8147s off the pace of chart-topper Ryan Wood for Walkinshaw Andretti United.
“It’s much more calm now. That first one I was really shitting myself,” said Cameron after the session.
“I see these guys in the top category as elite. The Super2 guys are good but I see it as a big step up. To do well and have JC (James Courtney) in my corner is good.
“Those first few laps there were pretty scary. I was just sort of holding on. I didn’t get to do any testing so you’re just trying to find the limits as you go.”
Cameron reaffirmed his need to stay out of trouble all weekend long with a short turnaround to get cars ready and shipped to New Zealand for the ITM Taupō Super 440.
The 25-year-old will have four racing opportunities at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, the first of which takes place at the end of a blockbuster Thursday schedule.
“We all know there’s a short turnaround to New Zealand and JB [Jon Blanchard] and Tim [Blanchard] will kill me if I make too much work for the boys,” Cameron joked.
As for his goals? Cameron said he’d be pleased if he is anywhere better than 20ths.
“Anything in the ones. If we can get anything in the teens, I’ll be really happy,” he explained.
“That’s as simple as it is. If we’re in the 20s, yeah, great, but I’d love to be in the teens. The teens is where I want to be and where I think we can be as a team.
“JC did such a great job in Sydney in the 10th to 13th range – even with bad quali pace. Once we’ve figured out the quali stuff, hopefully we can fight for some good results this year.”
Practice 2 at the Melbourne SuperSprint gets underway at 1:25pm AEDT.
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