SpongeBob SquarePants tops Supercars Practice 1

SPONGEBOB SquarePants has made quite the first impression on the Repco Supercars Championship, with Macauley Jones topping opening practice at Albert Park.

Donning the yellow of the popular Nickelodeon character, Jones has set himself up for a big MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint by rolling out of the truck strongly, his 1:47.6167s unrivalled in Practice 1.

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While the once-hyped battle between Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat as Walkinshaw Andretti United teammates never panned out, it was those two who duked it out in the initial stages.

Mostert was fastest from Percat from the initial flying laps in the 30-minute session, with the former leading the way on a 1:48.1447s before Cam Waters popped into second.

With 13 minutes remaining on the clock, Percat put Matt Stone Racing on top, only to be immediately eclipsed by Mostert to the tune of a mere 0.0435s as the latter became the first into the ‘47s’.

Percat responded in the closing stages, lowering the marker to 1:47.7370s.

But there was still more to come: Cam Waters and Matt Payne made it a Ford one-two, only for Jones to steal the limelight in his specially liveried #96 Camaro.

That left the pointy end of the order to read: Jones, Waters, Payne, Percat, Jaxon Evans, Todd Hazelwood, Mostert, Anton De Pasquale, Jack Le Brocq and Andre Heimgartner.

Championship leader Will Brown was just 15th and was among those to skate off at the first chicane, along with Percat and Ryan Wood.

The biggest moment of the session though belonged to Mark Winterbottom, who scraped the fence at the fast Turn 8 sweeper in the closing stages.

Supercars return to the track for second and final practice from 1:25pm AEDT.

RESULTS: Practice 1, 2024 MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint