De Pasquale leads Team 18 one-two in Sydney 500 practice

The 30-minute practice session at Sydney Motorsport Park was a slightly bizarre affair, with all but six drivers setting their best lap inside the first three laps.

De Pasquale’s 1:30.0226 set on his first flying lap in the opening minutes was unbeaten. That was a fraction faster than the top pre-season test time of 1:30.1027s by Will Brown.

There was a late run by Cameron Waters who looked like he might top the charts until he exceeded track limits at the final turn.

To the second sector, Waters had the two quickest sectors and was on course to eclipse De Pasquale by at least two tenths.

Waters wasn’t the only driver to exceed track limits at the end. Chaz Mostert, who was 20th, was pinged as was Richie Stanaway.

De Pasquale’s teammate David Reynolds was second fastest and 0.4742s adrift at the end of the session.

Blanchard Racing Team duo James Courtney and Aaron Love were also a surprise packet, finishing third and fourth respectively.

Andre Heimgartner completed the top five for Brad Jones Racing ahead of Bryce Fullwood, Cameron Hill, Brodie Kostecki, Thomas Randle, and Ryan Wood.

Last year’s champion Brown was 12th fastest while teammate Broc Feeney was 18th.

The only drivers to improve at the end were second-placed Reynolds (Lap 8), eighth-placed Brodie Kostecki (Lap 8), ninth-placed Thomas Randle (Lap 16), Matt Payne (Lap 10) in 15th, Macauley Jones (Lap 10) in 21st, and Cameron Crick (Lap 7) in 23rd.

Action at the Sydney 500 will continue with the two-part Qualifying for Race 1 at 4:20pm AEDT.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship Sydney 500, Practice