Championship leader Matt Payne opened his Penrite Oil Sandown 500 campaign in style on Friday afternoon, topping the timesheets in his Ford Mustang after two practice sessions.
“There’s been a lot of work go into this event from us,” commented Payne. “We seem to always go ok here, although we never have felt as though we could win. So, we really wanted to put a package together that would work around here and we have definitely improved on last year. A really clean day for us.”
In warm and sunny conditions, Payne set a 1:08.501 in P2, just shading Red Bull Ampol Racing driver Broc Feeney – also in a Ford Mustang – and PremiAir Racing’s Cooper Murray aboard his Chevrolet Camaro. It was a strong first day of the weekend for PremiAir Racing, with Murray’s teammate Jayden Ojeda fastest in P1.
Andre Heimgartner was the best of the Toyota GR Supra entries for R&J Batteries Racing, posting a 1:08.638.
Both practice sessions saw teams and drivers establish their initial set-ups for the weekend while evaluating soft and super soft tyres. Attention now turns to tomorrow, with wet weather set to hit Melbourne.
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