Waters edges Mostert in Sandown opener
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 13 September 2024
The 60th anniversary Sandown 500 is underway and Tickford has started strong with Cameron Waters leading opening practice.
Despite the Team 18 teammates being on top for the majority of the session, both Waters and Chaz Mostert found more time in the final five minutes.
Mostert knocked off fast co driver Warren Luff, but the Tickford star’s 1:08.7478 at the death just eclipsed the #25 by 0.1445s.
They were clear of the impressive Luff, who was on the money in the #20 alongside David Reynolds to post the third fastest time ahead of Thomas Randle and Mark Winterbottom.
The 30-minute session ran without incident with only Ryan Wood crawling into the sand at Dandenong Road and Craig Lowndes carrying a lot of speed though the opening corner.
Kerb changes at Turns 4 and 9 meant drivers were able to carry more speed through the tight left handers and the pace was up with drivers were faster than the corresponding session last year within five minutes.
There were early dramas for Grove Racing with Matt Payne reporting power steering issues as smoke appeared from the rear of his #19 Mustang.
Team 18 was fast out of the blocks with David Reynolds going to the top after the first flyers well clear of Brodie Kostecki and Anton De Pasquale.
But moments later Reynolds’ teammate Winterbottom found even more pace, lowering the benchmark to a 1:09.0085.
The fast lap ensured “Frosty” had a tenth in hand ahead of Chaz Mostert, while Nick Percat was further back as teams soon found their rhythm.
At the halfway mark Andre Heimgartner found some pace and slashed Winterbottom’s lead to just 0.0657s, while Reynolds produced a similar lap to return to the top three.
The likes of Tony D’Alberto, Scott Pye, Jordan Boys and Jamie Whincup were some of the first co drivers to get laps under their belt, but some teams like Erebus, DJR and Tickford kept the main drivers in for the full session.
One co-driver who wasted no time coming to grips with the car was Warren Luff as he knocked off the sister Team 18 car from the top by being the first to record a 1m08s lap.
Mostert soon joined him by edging out the #20 co-driver by 0.0389s.
The WAU driver’s time stood until the final two minutes where Waters edged clear.
The Monster Mustang did not stop pushing as it found a further tenth at the very end.
Randle improved 10 spots to jump to fifth before going again and splitting the Team 18 Camaros in fourth.
After getting a feel for things, the co drivers will enjoy a standalone session at 12.45 AEST.
2024 Sandown 500 Practice 1 results
2024 Sandown 500
Practice 1: Fri 10.45
Practice 2: Fri 12.45
Practice 3: Fri 15.40
Practice 4: Sat 9.50
Practice 5: Sat 12,00
Qualifying: Sat 14.10
Top 10 Shootout: Sat 17.20
Warm up: Sun 9.55
Race: Sun 14.05 161 laps
Image: Mark Horsburgh
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