Reynolds threatens Bathurst record books

Holden cult hero David Reynolds has threatened the record books to top the opening day's practice for the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama.

David Reynolds

David Reynolds has sounded his intentions by threatening the record books at Bathurst 1000 practice. (AAP)

Cult hero David Reynolds has made headlines for all the right reasons after threatening the record books at Thursday's Bathurst 1000 practice.

But defending Supercars series champion Shane van Gisbergen faces an anxious wait after a nasty crash in the third and final one-hour practice session.

Reynolds - a driver more well known for bringing back the "shoey" podium celebration - put the boot into the star-studded field by clocking Thursday's fastest overall practice time in the last session - two minutes, 05.09 seconds.

It was just 0.19 of a second outside Holden star Jamie Whincup's 2015 practice lap record (2:04.90) at Mount Panorama.

Holden funny man Reynolds tried to get serious when asked about his impressive form ahead of Friday's qualifying for Sunday's race.

"We've got a good stable car, you've just got to grow some balls, brake late and hope it sticks," Reynolds said.

Reynolds entered Bathurst infamy after 2015 practice when he described an all-female team as "the pussy wagon", earning a $25,000 fine.

Reynolds didn't slip up on Thursday, holding out Supercars series leader Scott McLaughlin and his Ford teammate Fabian Coulthard to top the practice timesheets.

But 2016 Supercars champ van Gisbergen's Red Bull Racing (RBR) team might face a long night after his high-speed crash.

Van Gisbergen smashed into the wall at The Dipper on top of the mountain halfway through the final one-hour session, prompting a red flag.

RBR team manager Mark Dutton tried to play down the incident.

"It's pretty unforgiving up there. It was only a minor thing," he said.

"The positive is that Shane was so happy with the car in this session. His confidence was up - he was pushing hard.

"But we have the people and the parts here to fix it.

"It's part of practice. We would prefer not to hit the wall but it doesn't look crazy bad."

RBR could also see the lighter side of the dramatic crash.

"You know that 3pm slump where you just hit a wall? Yeah, Shane just found that," the team tweeted.

Van Gisbergen's teammate Whincup was fifth quickest on Thursday.

Mount Panorama didn't waste time finding its first victim.

Tim Slade's Holden is out of action until Friday after a bad crash just 30 minutes into the opening session.

Slade walked away from the accident.

But his Brad Jones Racing (BJR) team are working overtime to have the extensively damaged Holden repaired in time for Friday's qualifying after slamming into the wall at 176km/h.

A shaken Slade put his hand up after the incident.

"Obviously, I was too fast," he said.

"We made a change to the front tyres and the car was awesome but I clipped the wall pretty hard."

Holden veteran and six-time Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes believed the mountain had taught Slade a timely lesson.

"You have to be smart about it. He has now lost two practice sessions and that really hurts your weekend," he said.


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Source: AAP


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