Rick Kelly strong out the box

Rick Kelly has set the early pace in practice one at the Clipsal 500, spending the majority of the 30-minute session at the pointy end of the field.

Kelly, in his Nissan Altima, traded times early on with all-time champ Jamie Whincup, and ended the session just 0.015sec ahead of Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander, with his 1min21.58 lap of the Adelaide street circuit.

Tander believed there was more to come from his Holden Commodore this weekend, as they dialled into the track.

"You go up to turn four and there's some sort of new bump there," Tander said.

"We're struggling at four to get the car settle and brake nicely... the rest of the lap, the car's pretty good.

"There's still a fair bit left on the table, so blowing off the cobwebs and just going for a drive along the streets of Adelaide."

Sydney.com SuperTest fast man Chaz Mostert finished third, with Whincup, Shane van Gisbergen, Mark Winterbottom, Ash Walsh, Scott McLaughlin, James Moffat and another Nissan in Michael Caruso making the top 10 and representing all five manufacturers, separated by 0.3 of a second.

The session ran smoothly, with a few running wide as the V8 Supercars drivers adjusted to the track conditions.

Nissan engineering boss Scott Sinclair said it was almost scary to be quickest, as street circuits traditionally gripped up throughout the weekend.

Others to note from the session include Craig Lowndes 12, Jason Bright 13, Marcos Ambrose 15 and James Courtney 16.

Click here for full results.

Second practice begins at 10.50am local time.