2017 Bathurst winner, David Reynolds, was fifth during the opening laps of the 40-minute qualifying session at Mount Panorama when he lost control of the Team18 Chevrolet Camaro, crunching into the concrete wall at The Esses with 23 minutes remaining.

As a result, he lost his best qualifying lap and dropped out of contention for Saturday's Top 10 Shootout. By the end of the session, he had dropped to 21st.

Reynolds immediately let his team know he was unhurt and later explained the cause of the crash to the Supercars broadcaster.

"I was pushing really hard, the car was getting better," he said. "I probably shouldn't have stayed up for that second lap because the car was starting to go away and everything gets a bit more skatey.

"I should have put the next set on and gone but I was probably pushing too hard for the conditions and got bitten bad."

Confirming his condition, Reynolds added: "I'm fine, more than fine. I'm actually just really angry that it happened. But we're pushing the limits and every now and again that happens.

Reynolds's crash comes 24 hours after his co-driver Warren Luff - who works as a stunt driver - pirouetted the car at the same section of track while only scratching the car.

"Obviously, I'm not as skilled as Luffy - he saved it yesterday and I crashed," Reynolds joked.

Watching from the garage while his team-mate completed the qualifying session, Luff aid of the incident: "He got a little bit offline and when he took the kerb up the top, it just got a bit of an awkward bounce and, unfortunately, he was just a bit of a passenger.

"Not ideal, but that's Bathurst. The boys will get stuck in tonight and I'm sure we'll turn the car around and will have a quick car on Sunday."

Qualifying came to an end when Shell V-Power Racing driver Will Davison became the latest driver to be bitten by The Dipper - damaging all four corners of his Ford Mustang.