Will Davison tops opening Bathurst 1000 practice on a wet Mount Panorama track

The driver of the #230 Milwaukee Ford FGX Falcon set a time of 2:25.02 in the tricky wet conditions that made driving around the circuit a real challenge.

“It’s really hard to learn much when it’s greasy like that,” Davison, who won the 2009 and 2015 Bathurst 1000, told Speedcafe.com.

“You make a few changes to the car, but you can’t really learn too much besides tyre pressure [and] we know how critical that is.

“Whether it’s full wet, or intermediate or these drying conditions, there’s no right or wrong; it’s just trying to know what’s right for the conditions.”

Davison, who will share his seat with brother Alex, currently sits 15^th in the championship. His best qualifying result thus far has been a fifth, so others were expected to top the time sheets for opening practice.

Yet his name was not the only surprise in the top five.

Chaz Mostert, Aaren Russell, Michael Caruso and Mark Winterbottom completed the top 10 in what were some good performances from the Ford and Nissan squads.

Nissan's Simona De Silvestro also performed well in taking eighth position.

Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen was the fastest Holden in seventh, with team-mate Jamie Whincup in 10th, Craig Lowndes in a lowly 20^th.

Last year’s pole sitter Scott McLaughlin ended the session in 16th and 2017 Bathurst 1000 champion David Reynolds, along with Erebus team-mate Anton de Pasquale, sat out the session in the garage.

The rain and drizzle meant that all drivers were searching for any traction they could find plus grip off the track, with The Chase and Murray’s Corner being the most frequent areas where they ran wide.

The session was red flagged briefly for wildlife around the circuit and despite the rain passing and a dry line being formed on the track, the conditions didn’t allow for any meaningful dry running.

Practice two is set to follow from 12.55pm with a co-driver only session.