Aaron Cameron topped Practice 1 at The Bend 500. Image: InSyde Media
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.
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“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
Pos
Num
Driver
Team/Sponsor
Car
Lap
Diff
Gap
1
3
Aaron Cameron/Zak Best
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
1:50.0617
2
55
Thomas Randle/James Moffat
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1:50.0900
0.0283
0.0283
3
38
Brodie Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1:50.3975
0.3358
0.3075
4
6
Cameron Waters/Mark Winterbottom
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1:50.5722
0.5105
0.1747
5
19
Matt Payne/Garth Tander
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1:50.7354
0.6737
0.1632
6
4
Cameron Hill/Cameron McLeod
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:50.7574
0.6957
0.0220
7
7
James Courtney/Jack Perkins
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
1:50.7673
0.7056
0.0099
8
20
David Reynolds/Lee Holdsworth
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:50.8037
0.7420
0.0364
9
25
Chaz Mostert/Fabian Coulthard
Walkinshaw Andretti United
Ford Mustang GT
1:50.9714
0.9097
0.1677
10
9
Jack Le Brocq/Jarrod Hughes
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:50.9730
0.9113
0.0016
11
2
Ryan Wood/Jayden Ojeda
Walkinshaw Andretti United
Ford Mustang GT
1:50.9761
0.9144
0.0031
12
88
Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:51.0469
0.9852
0.0708
13
12
Jaxon Evans/Jack Smith
Brad Jones Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:51.0946
1.0329
0.0477
14
18
Anton De Pasquale/Harri Jones
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:51.1184
1.0567
0.0238
15
17
Will Davison/Tony D’Alberto
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1:51.1798
1.1181
0.0614
16
10
Nick Percat/Tim Slade
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:51.3677
1.3060
0.1879
17
8
Andre Heimgartner/Declan Fraser
Brad Jones Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:51.3972
1.3355
0.0295
18
1
Will Brown/Scott Pye
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:51.4439
1.3822
0.0467
19
26
Kai Allen/Dale Wood
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1:51.4496
1.3879
0.0057
20
31
James Golding/David Russell
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:51.5280
1.4663
0.0784
21
5
Lochie Dalton/Rylan Gray
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1:51.5360
1.4743
0.0080
22
99
Cooper Murray/Jobe Stewart
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:51.7797
1.718
0.2437
23
96
Macauley Jones/Jordan Boys
Brad Jones Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:51.8072
1.7455
0.0275
24
62
Richie Stanaway/Nash Morris
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:52.1092
2.0475
0.3020
25
35
Cameron Crick/Aaron Seton
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:52.1146
2.0529
0.0054
26
14
Bryce Fullwood/Brad Vaughan
Brad Jones Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:52.6739
2.6122
0.5593
27
888
Craig Lowndes/Zach Bates
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:53.5116
3.4499
0.8377