Steven Richards hits wall

Two-times Bathurst winner Richards walked away from a high speed crash at the end of the 135 minute practice session when he lost control of his No.7 Commodore coming down Conrod Straight and hit the wall.

The crash caused extensive structural damage estimated at over $100,000 and the pit crew must rebuild the vehicle overnight for Richards to have any chance of qualifying.

Richards remained optimistic the car would be ready for qualifying tomorrow.

"With a bit of luck we might be saved and make qualifying," said Richards.

"I'm pretty sure the right rear tyre blew and it turned hard left in the middle of the straight.

"I just closed my eyes and waited for the big hit."

Holden driver Lee Holdsworth had an almost identical accident during the first half of practice, but he was luckier than Richards as his car missed the wall.

Richards and co-driver Paul Dumbrell could switch to the team's other No.11 Commodore, but team owner Larry Perkins ruled it out - partly because his son Jack and fellow rookie Shane Price are racing the other entry.

All teams had until late today to confirm driver entries, and Richards-Dumbrell could have been given the undamaged No.11 vehicle, but six-times Bathurst winner Perkins believes other drivers should not suffer because of Richards's error.

"I'm not inclined to switch," said Perkins.

"If that's your car, you live with it.

"We'll put in an all nighter and see if we can't make it to qualifying tomorrow."

The late crash overshadowed a dominant start to the event by pre-race favourites Skaife and Tander in the No.2 HRT Commodore.

They set the pace for the majority of the session and just when Jason Bright (CAT Ford Performance Racing Falcon) closed the gap to within one hundredth of a second, Skaife jumped back behind the wheel to extend their lead.

Skaife's two minutes 08.1727 seconds lap was clearly ahead of Bright (2:08.9665) while Rick Kelly (Toll HSV Dealer Commodore) was third best in 2:08.9803.

Steven Johnson (FirstRock Home Loans Falcon) was fourth in 2:09.0053, ahead of Richards (2:09.0613) and Ford's Craig Lowndes (Betta Electrical Falcon) who finished slightly off the pace in sixth with a time of 2:09.3283.

Skaife said it's too early to declare HRT the fastest car on the mountain - even though co-driver Tander posted a slick 2:08.9594 on old tyres.

"It's only Thursday, lets not get too carried away by the gap. I'm sure everyone will close that gap," said Skaife.

"You can easily make up big chunks of time here."

Third-placed Kelly suggested there was still plenty left in his Commodore.

"Everything is going to plan ... we are not trying to break records today."

The V8s resume tomorrow with two half-hour practice sessions in the morning followed by qualifying from 2pm.

AAP