As the Sandown 500 kicked into gear, the first day of practice saw notable performances and learnings for Cub Cadet Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and Michael Caruso, alongside TRADIE Beer Racing’s David Reynolds and Warren Luff. The Team 18 squad tackled three pivotal practice sessions, each uncovering critical data and strategies for the weekend’s main event.

In Practice 1, Winterbottom and Caruso made a strong statement, securing third place with Winterbottom showing strong pace. Reynolds and Luff also showcased their potential, finishing fifth in the same session.

As the day progressed, Practice 2 was dedicated to co-driver laps. Caruso and Luff utilised this session to adapt to the track, finishing 13th and 23rd, respectively. By Practice 3, the evolving track conditions saw Winterbottom and Caruso dropping to 13th, while Reynolds and Luff settled in 17th.

Saturday’s schedule promises an action-packed day with two additional practice sessions at 9:55am and 12:05pm, leading into the critical Qualifying session at 2:15pm and the Top 10 Shootout at 5:25pm.

Fans can catch all the action live on Fox Sports and Kayo, with highlights available on 7Plus. Check local guides for further details.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Mark Winterbottom, driver #18 Cub Cadet Racing Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Practice 1: 3rd

Practice 2 (Caruso): 13th

Practice 3: 13th

“Pretty good day, really fast in P1. I think we’re one of the fastest cars in first practice, but we lost our balance a little bit over the day.

“I think our base car is very good, and it was actually a really good day, we’ll just try and stay on top of the track, evolution and stuff like that, but first practice out the gate was very confidence inspiring, and then Caruso was fast too.

“Unfortunately started better than we finished, but now we just go and look at the data, but I think we’re in pretty good shape.”

Michael Caruso, co-driver #18 Cub Cadet Racing Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

 “Solid first day at Sandown. We’ve got plenty of laps in and tried a few things. A few lessons learnt and now we have a good direction what we’re after for before practice tomorrow. So we’ll come back and gear up for quali.”

David Reynolds, driver #20 TRADIE Beer Racing Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Practice 1: 5th

Practice 2 (Luff): 23rd

Practice 3: 17th

“Friday at Sandown went okay. Car pace is okay, just that the last last run in practice wasn’t the best, probably made too good of a race car possibly and not the best quali car. I’ve got some ideas in my head why that is, but I need to talk to Krusty about it.

“But, all in all, good day. Luffy was on the pace, got some laps on good tyres. We’ve got a lot of data to pile through and come up with the best car for tomorrow.

“We rolled out fairly on the pace, I think track and tyre conditions probably helped us there, but, towards the end of the day, might have lost our way a little bit, but got some things to go through.”

Warren Luff, co-driver #20 TRADIE Beer Racing Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

“It’s been a strong day.

“Good to get lots of practice in the car. We made a lot of changes and I think we’ve got a clear direction as to where we need to go to improve the car for tomorrow and obviously just start thinking about what a qualifying car is going to be.

“Weather tomorrow could be a bit of a factor in all that as well which, it’s going to be the same for everyone so not as fast as what we want it to be but we know what we’ve got to do to make it go better for tomorrow.”