The Team 18 driver made a fast start to the half-hour session, banking a 1m08.963s on his opening run to jump to the top.

That benchmark would prove unbeatable, an early effort from Chaz Mostert second-best by five-hundredths of a second.

“It was good, rolled out, felt pretty good, the car is alright,” said De Pasquale. “Obviously very different from where we’ve come from.

“Tyre life is going to be a big issue come the race, so that’s where the brain is going to now. We’ll see how we keep going for the rest of the day.”

Mostert was by far the best-placed of the Finals contenders with David Reynolds, Brodie Kostecki, James Courtney filling the top five.

Cam Hill was sixth fastest despite a mid-session spin at Turn 4 ahead of Will Davison and Cooper Murray.

Cam Waters and Thomas Randle were the next-best of the Finals contenders in ninth and 10th respectively followed by Will Brown in 11th and Matt Payne in 12th.

Broc Feeney was only 18th fastest, one spot ahead of Kai Allen.

Ryan Wood, who will be looking to play a crucial support role for Mostert this weekend, had an interrupted session courtesy of a stripped bolt in the front suspension.

He did get back on track and ended up 16th fastest.

Jayden Ojeda, meanwhile, finished his first session as a Supercars full-timer 22nd fastest.

Practice 2 will take place at 3:55pm local time.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship Penrite Oil Sandown 500, Practice 1