PremiAir Racing’s Jayden Ojeda. Image: Richard Gresham
Rookies are allotted an extra set of tyres for the first practice session at each Supercars round, which several drivers made the most of.
Ojeda set a 1:47.8806s to put himself 0.7368s clear of Anton De Pasquale in the #18 Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro, whose 1:48.6174s was set on used tyres.
Dick Johnson Racing rookie Rylan Gray was also quick in the #38 Ford Mustang, making the most of his addition set of tyres to go third fastest on a 1:49.0823s.
“Busy Thursday for us, so always good to start with a bit of speed in the car,” said Ojeda.
“For sure, being a rookie and getting the additional set of tyres help. It’s a massive step in learning these cars, so it’s really appreciated by Supercars.
“Unfamiliar with this configuration. I raced here in Formula 4 in 2019 but other than that a Supercar rookie.
“A little bit to get my head around, especially the grip we had in the Formula 4 compared to these things, especially with how fast this circuit is and these cars with the low downforce just getting to grips with that.”
The session ended with Declan Fraser parking on the chute between Turn 10 and 11 with an electrical issue, which brough out local yellows. Fraser was last of the 24 drivers with 10 laps to his name.
There were early dramas in practice for Cooper Murray, whose #99 Erebus Motorsport Camaro began blowing smoke.
It emerged a power steering failure had spilled oil through the engine bay, and left him stranded in the pit lane as the team remedied the issue.
Murray returned late in the session to set the 19th fastest time after seven laps.
James Golding had an eventful session int he #7 Blanchard Racing Team Mustang. He went off the road at the high-speed Turn 10 and later brushed the Turn 8 wall.
Jackson Walls toured the gravel trap in his #11 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mustang at Turn 14 inside the final two minutes. He ended up 23rd.
The Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit was fairly dusty to begin the day. Supercars effectively acted as track sweepers as the only Porsche Carrera Cup Australia practice was a non-event due to Marcos Flack having a massive crash in the opening minutes of the session.
No representative lap times were set in the Carrera Cup session. The championship will have qualifying at 11:35am AEDT.
Practice 2 for the Repco Supercars Championship at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix gets underway on Thursday at 12:25pm AEDT.
Results: Repco Supercars Championship Melbourne SuperSprint, Practice 1
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Car
Laps
Lap
Diff
Gap
1
31
Jayden Ojeda
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
11
1:47.8806
2
18
Anton De Pasquale
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
9
1:48.6174
0.7368
0.7368
3
38
Rylan Gray
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
11
1:49.0823
1.2017
0.4649
4
888
William Brown
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
11
1:49.1099
1.2293
0.0276
5
7
James Golding
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
10
1:49.1256
1.245
0.0157
6
17
Brodie Kostecki
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
11
1:49.1345
1.2539
0.0089
7
55
Thomas Randle
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
11
1:49.2196
1.339
0.0851
8
88
Broc Feeney
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
12
1:49.2381
1.3575
0.0185
9
6
Cameron Waters
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
12
1:49.3339
1.4533
0.0958
10
19
Matthew Payne
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
12
1:49.4863
1.6057
0.1524
11
26
Kai Allen
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
12
1:49.5181
1.6375
0.0318
12
2
Ryan Wood
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
12
1:49.6366
1.756
0.1185
13
14
Cameron Hill
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
10
1:49.6675
1.7869
0.0309
14
1
Chaz Mostert
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
12
1:49.7476
1.867
0.0801
15
20
David Reynolds
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
12
1:49.7485
1.8679
0.0009
16
800
Andre Heimgartner
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
11
1:49.7787
1.8981
0.0302
17
96
Macauley Jones
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
12
1:49.8085
1.9279
0.0298
18
4
Jack Le Brocq
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
11
1:49.9089
2.0283
0.1004
19
99
Cooper Murray
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
7
1:49.9401
2.0595
0.0312
20
3
Aaron Cameron
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
11
1:50.0645
2.1839
0.1244
21
10
Zach Bates
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
12
1:50.3479
2.4673
0.2834
22
9
Jobe Stewart
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
13
1:50.5140
2.6334
0.1661
23
11
Jackson Walls
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
12
1:50.5316
2.651
0.0176
24
777
Declan Fraser
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
10
1:50.7711
2.8905
0.2395
