Slade tops first session

Supercheap Auto Racing's Tim Slade has topped the first practice session at the NP300 Navara Winton SuperSprint, recording a 1min23.8937 lap on Dunlop hard tyres.

Slade recorded his time late in the session, knocking off Red Bull's Jamie Whincup who set out on soft tyres, and was 0.0039sec behind at the conclusion of the hour-long run.

Erebus' Ash Walsh, also on softs, came home third backing up Erebus' good form in Perth and at Winton last year. Only a handful of drivers elected to use pre-marked soft tyres during that run.

Slade - who earned a podium result at the Victorian circuit last year - was pleased to be at the top of the times.

"It is nice," he said post-session.

"We finished off on some good tyres.

"We expected [a good time] because of the tyre quality at the end there - but at this point of the day we're not exactly sure where we're at."

A number of co-drivers featured in that first session, and Supercheap Auto Racing will have Tony D'Alberto in the car for today's second practice run.

"We'll press on in the next session, Tony's going to do a few laps and we'll see where we are at the end of the day," Slade said.

Chaz Mostert, who led the way for some of the session, finished fourth, followed by Will Davison, Todd Kelly, Shane van Gisbergen and Fabian Coulthard.

Others to note include Craig Lowndes 11th, Mark Winterbottom 19th (he shared the car with Steve Owen) and James Courtney 21st (after sharing with Jack Perkins).

Click here for full results.

The V8 Supercars will again hit the track today at 12.55pm local time.