Wood fastest in wild first Grand Prix practice

Rising Kiwi star Ryan Wood has opened his MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint account with the fastest time in Practice 1 at Albert Park.

The second-year Walkinshaw Andretti United driver was one of two drivers, along with countryman Richie Stanaway, to set a lap in the 1:47s through 30 minutes of practice.

Held under cloudy skies, Practice 1 featured a number of offs and a mixed order, with Erebus Motorsport rookie Cooper Murray fourth and new Blanchard Racing Team driver Aaron Cameron an impressive 10th.

Veterans Will Davison and James Courtney put their Fords in third and fifth ahead of reigning champion Will Brown, ahead of fellow 2024 winners Nick Percat and Broc Feeney.

Chaz Mostert went off twice en route to ninth, with Cameron a solid 10th in his first session after replacing Aaron Love in the #3 CoolDrive Ford Mustang.

Mostert bowled two wides onto the grass at Turn 1, with Anton De Pasquale (Turn 12), Kai Allen (Turn 1) and Murray (Turn 12) all coming to grief during the session.

Davison opened proceedings with a 1:49.4851s, with Matt Payne, Cam Waters, and Brown joining the Shell V-Power Racing Team driver in the 1:49s.

James Golding then clocked a 1:48.7114s, which held sway for the balance of the session.

Through 10 minutes, Golding, led Percat, Cameron Hill, Mostert, Thomas Randle, Davison, Payne, Wood, David Reynolds and Stanaway. Feeney was 11th, with Waters 13th and Brown 14th.

With 14 minutes to go, Waters jumped to second with a 1:48.9541s, which was still 0.2457s down on Golding's benchmark. Stanaway and Feeney jumped to fifth and sixth, before Percat (1:48.9027s) and Hill (1:48.9197s) jumped ahead.

The field returned to the track for a final run at the time sheets, with Mostert going quickest in the first sector to vault from 11th to second with a 1:48.7481s, just 0.0367s behind Golding.

Jack Le Brocq improved to third with a 1:48.8029s, 0.0915s behind Golding, before Feeney survived a slide at Turn 8 to move just ahead with a 1:48.6204s.

After Murray lowered the benchmark to a 1:48.4228s before running onto the grass at Turn 1, with Percat moving to second with a 1:48.5353s, Davison (1:48.2616s) and Wood (1:48.1925s).

Stanaway then nailed a 1:47.9152s, before Wood went even quicker, albeit to the tune of just 0.0704s.

Wood's benchmark was still 0.2s down on the corresponding time set by Brad Jones Racing driver Macauley Jones 12 months ago, a 1:47.6167s.

Supercars will return to the track for Practice 2 at 1:25pm local time, followed by dual Boost Mobile Qualifying sessions from 3:25pm.

The first of four sprint races, the 19-lap Race 4, will commence at 5:50pm.