Waters quickest in Supercars Practice 1 in Perth

Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters has set the pace in Practice 1 for Supercars’ Bunnings Trade Perth SuperNight.

Waters wheeled his #6 Monster Energy Mustang to a fastest lap of 0:53.9891s in the final minutes of the half-hour session at a sunny Wanneroo Raceway, 0.1724s clear of the Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Anton De Pasquale.

Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen, who leads the Repco Supercars Championship, ended up only 13th after being among the quickest in the early stages.

Penrite Racing’s David Reynolds (#26 Ford Mustang) was the initial pace-setter, with a 0:55.0816s on his first flyer and a 0:54.6874s next time through, but was second by 0.1340s to van Gisbergen’s (#97 ZB Commodore) 0:54.5304s by the time they finished their opening runs.

Despite signs of a possible driveline issue in the #11 Mustang, De Pasquale went third with a 0:54.7448s on his second run, although he was quickly usurped by Will Brown’s (#9 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore) 0:54.6771s.

Still, the top two was unchanged until the final four minutes before the chequered flag, when Tim Slade (#3 CoolDrive Mustang) jumped up from eighth with a 0:54.3739s.

That was bettered almost immediately by Waters’ 0:53.9891s and they were quickly split by Jack Le Brocq’s (#34 Truck Assist ZB Commodore) 0:54.2166s.

Le Brocq ended up third once De Pasquale punched out a 0:54.1615s in the 30th minute, with Reynolds finishing the session fourth on a 0:54.2231s and Brodie Kostecki (#99 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore) fifth on a 0:54.2745s.

The Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Will Davison logged the most laps of anyone, 22, as teams look to get a read on how much the soft tyre compound which is in play this weekend will degrade on the rough Wanneroo surface.

He set a 0:54.2833s in the #17 Mustang which was good enough for sixth, with the top 10 rounded out by Macauley Jones (#96 Tools.com ZB Commodore), Chris Pither (#22 Coca-Cola ZB Commodore), Slade, and Brown.

Both Walkinshaw Andretti United entries were outside the top 10, with Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI ZB Commodore) 12th on a 0:54.4844s and Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus ZB Commodore) 19th on a 0:54.9574s.

Between them on the timesheet, van Gisbergen had no advance on his first run in the #97 ZB Commodore, while team-mate Broc Feeney brought up the very rear of the 25-car field with a 0:55.2950s in the #88 entry.

Tickford’s James Courtney had an eventful session, going off into the infield in wild fashion after his #5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang got unsettled on a kerb as he climbed the Turn 2/Turn 3 complex.

He would later have contact with Todd Hazelwood (#35 Truck Assists ZB Commodore) at Turn 7, the final corner, and finished up 14th-fastest all told.

Andre Heimgartner had an earlier run through the sand at Turn 7 in the #8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore, but was able to drive out and thus save a red flag.

He set a lap time which left him 16th.

Practice 2, another 30-minute session, starts at 12:15 local time/14:15 AEST.

Results: Practice 1