Two former 6 Hour champions in Beric Lynton and Iain Sherrin each slipped back through the field on the opening lap with troubles, and drama for pole sitter Karl Begg would eventually bring out the first safety car of the race.

While the Sherrin entry was able to quickly get going again there wasn't as much luck for Lynton's BMW, which putted with a fuel pump issue and swiftly arrived back to pit lane when its problem wasn't resolved.

By the time the car exited pit lane just before the end of the race's opening hour the 2019 champions were down by 11 laps.

"It's a crazy amount of failures in the early stages. It's production car racing. Road cars going racing can often be temperamental," Lynton's Supercars co-driver Will Davison said.

"But obviously we have some of the best in the business with this team and they're generally across a lot of those issues. For something like this to happen so early is a bit of a shock because it hasn't missed a beat since we rolled it out here.

"For me, it's a new experience this weekend, but I'm really shattered for Tim [Leahey] and Bez. It's just cruel."

Begg had his BMW come to a complete stop on Pit Straight to bring out the first safety car of the race, and that led to a double dose of drama for the #4 entry of Anthony Soole just moments later.

A mechanical issue had Soole briefly stopped at the top of the Mount under safety car conditions before he ran deep into the sand trap on the opening corner when the race resumed.

At the end of the opening hour Perthville's Grant Denyer had the race lead in his Ford Mustang ahead of Tyler Mecklam's Mitsubishi Lancer EV, with both drivers yet to make their first pit stop.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: