All-Ford top five in rain-hit Bend 500 Practice 1

Cameron clocked a 1:50.061s around the 4.95km circuit in the #3 Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang he shares with Zak Best.

Fords occupied seven of the top 10 positions, with first through fifth held by Mustang entries.

Thomas Randle was second for Tickford Racing, 0.0283s adrift of the fastest time.

Dick Johnson Racing driver and 2023 champion Brodie Kostecki was third in the #38 ahead of Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters in the #6 and Grove Racing’s Matt Payne in the #19.

Cameron had the benefit of a recent rookie test and an additional set of tyres for Practice 1 under Supercars’ rookie rules.

“It’s awesome to top my first Supercars session,” said Cameron.

“We’ve been trying to set up for the last couple of rounds for this weekend and we obviously had some really nice tyres to put on for that first practice.

“It’s just a big change. We came here for a rookie day a couple of weeks ago and the wind has flipped around 180 [degrees] and it was also learning for me out there.

“Our car changed completely from what I was expecting we were going to have out there.

While Cameron said they rolled out strong, there was still room for set-up improvements.

“I think our base car rolling out is pretty good. We actually made it a lot better through Turn 5, the high-speed left-hander. That was a lot easier today.

“Just Turn 1, I’m so exposed there with the wind. It was a real battle. I think we’ve got a nice change we can work for that. We’ll see. It’s still too early.

“These 30-minute sessions with the rain, you don’t get enough time to actually do that many changes.”

The final 10 minutes were effectively a write-off with the track sodden by showers.

Cameron Hill was the best of the Chevrolet contingent for Matt Stone Racing in the #4 Camaro in sixth.

The top 10 was rounded out by James Courtney (#7 Blanchard Racing Team), David Reynolds (#20 Team 18), Chaz Mostert (#25 Walkinshaw Andretti United), and Jack Le Brocq (#9 Erebus Motorsport).

The session was relatively incident-free, save for Craig Lowndes touring the outfield in the opening minutes of the session at Turn 7.

Practice 2 at The Bend Motorsport Park is scheduled for 1:30pm ACST.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship AirTouch 500 at The Bend, Practice 1