Mark Winterbottom was fastest but Craig Lowndes stole the limelight in practice for the V8 Supercars round at Symmons Plains.

It was a frustrating day for drivers as they battled the elements ahead of the second round of the championship.

Drivers spent an hour on the track in a solid downpour, and another hour without rain, but with plenty of surface water, as they prepared for the weekend’s races.

The result was wet and wild racing, with plenty of trips off the track and onto the Tasmanian turf.

Lowndes spent more time on the grass than anyone, struggling for balance all afternoon as he slipped off the track at least six times.

But the five-time Bathurst champion wasn’t fazed by his day out.

“We were trying some things,” he said.

“Luckily, we didn’t beach the car, we got it back and the boys weren’t too stressed.”

The hairpin turn four was the trickiest corner for drivers to negotiate, resembling a waterslide, but it was far from the only turn that caused trouble.

Jason Bright hit a tyre wall, David Wall sprayed the crowd with water from a huge puddle and several others lost their grip.

Winterbottom was able to emerge from the muck fastest with a 51.40 second lap.

The strong drive raises hopes Ford build from their form at the non-championship Australian Grand Prix round and end an 18-month wait for a pole position.

“We won’t go down wondering – we’ll have a crack,” Winterbottom said.

“Tomorrow is going to be intense.

“One tenth of a second, if you get on the right side of it you can be pole; the wrong side, you could be mid-pack.”

Erebus driver Will Davison snuck into second place late in the session, while Lowndes recovered to be third.

Winterbottom’s Prodrive teammate Chaz Mostert was quickest during the first session, charting 1:02.28 around the short track – more than 11 seconds outside the lap record.

Scott Pye, who replaced Marcos Ambrose as in the DJR Team Penske Falcon, was 20th in the second session.

Mostert also provided the comedy for the day, taking off from his garage with cooling fans still sitting on the front of his car.

He was able to get his car back to pit lane without damaging the fans, where they were quickly grabbed by engineers.