Van Gisbergen, Slade crash as Winterbottom tops Practice 1

Mark Winterbottom has topped Practice 1 at the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint, with Shane van Gisbergen and Tim Slade both crashing.

Winterbottom ended the shortened session atop the time sheets in his #18 DEWALT Camaro ahead of Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Racing Team).

Van Gisbergen wound up third, but his #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro ended the session in the wall.

The reigning champion suffered a high-speed series of spins at Turn 8 before hitting the concrete twice.

Earlier, Slade crashed his #23 Nulon Camaro at Turn 5, both incidents triggering red flags.

Van Gisbergen was fastest early on with a 1:50.1749s before Slade, who was second, slid into the Turn 8 barriers.

Replays showed Slade losing the rear of his #23 Nulon Camaro, which clouted the tyre barriers.

The impact spat the car into the concrete, with Slade safely moving his damaged car out of harm’s way.

The session resumed after a short stoppage, with De Pasquale jumping to the top with a 1:50.1194s.

Winterbottom vaulted to the top with the first 1:49s lap of the day with a 1:49.9679s before van Gisbergen has his moment.

Van Gisbergen appeared to catch the grass exiting the fast Turn 8 and rotated twice at high speed.

The #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro clipped the wall, wiping the rear wing off the car, before it shot across the circuit.

The car made gentle contact with the wall, with the session red-flagged for a second time.

“I think the vision’s pretty self-explanatory,” Red Bull Ampol Racing team boss Jamie Whincup said.

Van Gisbergen inspects the damage

“He just dropped a wheel coming out of Turn 7 – did a good job actually to keep it pirouetting down the road.

"He came on the radio and said ‘I’ve had a big crash’, but I expected a lot worse than actually what it was.

“The guys are here to push hard, find the limits... practice is what it’s all about, so we’ll repair the car and get back out there for the next one.”

Several other drivers struck trouble in the session — notably, Macauley Jones slapped the Turn 8 wall in his #96 Pizza Hut Camaro.

James Courtney spun his #5 Snowy Rivers Caravans Mustang at Turn 1, with Slade’s teammate James Golding shortcutting the grass at Turn 11.

All drivers ran on the Hard tyre compound, with the Super Soft tyre also in play this weekend.

Cam Waters (#6 Monster Mustang), David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang), Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang), Brodie Kostecki (#99 Coca-Cola Camaro), Slade, Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) and Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro) rounded out the top 10.

Cars will return to the track for Practice 2 at 1:15pm local time on Thursday.