Mercedes’ Will Davison has made a fast start to this weekend’s V8 Supercars event in Ipswich, topping the timesheets in opening practice.

The former Bathurst 1000 champion clocked a fastest lap of one minute and 10.0802 seconds at the 3.12km Queensland Raceway to be the quickest driver in the 20-minute session.

Holden’s Jason Bright was second-fastest with a 1:10.0815 with championship leader Mark Winterbottom third in a 1:10.1131.

Winterbottom’s main championship rival Jamie Whincup had a mixed session and could only post the 12th-fastest lap.

It was an even less inspiring start to the weekend for Whincup’s teammate Craig Lowndes, with the Red Bull Racing veteran only bettering the time of one driver to finish 24th on the timesheets.

The session was the first of three in Ipswich on Friday with the two remaining sessions to be held in the afternoon.