Waters beats Mostert in first Sandown practice

Cam Waters has picked up where he left off in Tasmania, with the Tickford Racing driver setting the pace in first practice at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.

The Tickford Racing driver, who won the most recent race at Symmons Plains, beat Ford rival Chaz Mostert by 0.1445s after 30 minutes of practice at the famous Melbourne circuit.

David Reynolds was first Chevrolet home for Team 18 in third, with Thomas Randle making it a Tickford one-four result.

The 30-minute hit-out ran green with no incidents, but there were early concerns for Penrite Racing. The Matt Payne/Garth Tander car brought into the garage in the opening minutes with oil smoke emanating from the rear of the #19 Ford.

The Grove squad seemingly rectified a suspected power steering issue and returned the car to the track with 17 minutes remaining, with Payne jumping to 20th with his first timed lap. However, Payne was again forced back into the garage at the 19-minute mark.

"It was fast once all the oil and stuff cleaned up at the last corner, I thought I was on a speedway track," said Waters, who won the 2017 Sandown 500.

"It was pretty good conditions out there, a little bit breezy, the sun’s out which was nice, but a good way to start our Sandown 500."

The Payne Ford ended up 21st overall, with the Craig Lowndes/Cooper Murray and Matt Chahda/Brad Vaughan wildcard Camaros 22nd and 26th.

Triple Eight, meanwhile, started the session with co-drivers Jamie Whincup and Scott Pye, with Broc Feeney and Will Brown later taking their reins of their Red Bull Ampol Camaros.

Reynolds (1:10.7045s) and Brodie Kostecki (1:10.9225s) clocked the first flyers before Nick Percat (1:09.5536s) and Mostert (1:09.1390s) lowered the benchmark.

Percat moved his number to a 1:09.2049s, with teammate Hill behind with a 1:09.3034s. Then, Mark Winterbottom jumped to the top with a 1:09.0085s, with Andre Heimgartner second with a 1:09.0742s.

Heading into the final 10 minutes, Reynolds jumped to third with a 1:09.0871s, and pressed on to make it a Team 18 one-two with a 1:08.9312s. Heimgartner, Mostert and Jack Le Brocq rounded out the top 10, ahead of Percat, Brown and Cameron Hill.

As Reynolds, Winterbottom and Heimgartner handed over to Warren Luff, Michael Caruso and Declan Fraser respectively for the final minutes, Mostert jumped to the top with a 1:08.8923s.

Waters jumped from 10th to first, moving his benchmark from a 1:09.3843s to a 1:08.8065s to jump 0.0858s ahead of Mostert, who handed his WAU Ford over to Holdsworth. Waters’ teammate Randle, meanwhile, jumped from 16th to sixth.

Waters continued on, setting the fastest first sector and improving to a 1:08.7478s as the chequered flag flew, some 0.14s up the road from Mostert. Randle also improved, putting his Castrol Ford into fourth behind Reynolds.

Winterbottom, Heimgartner, Le Brocq, Percat, Brown and Hill rounded out the top 10, with the Feeney/Whincup car — which ended up 17th — recording 20 laps of the 3.1km circuit, more than any other car.

Co-drivers will have the track to themselves for Practice 2, which will commence at 12:45pm local time.