Ford rising star David Reynolds has topped the timesheets in Friday’s practice for this weekend’s V8 Supercars event in Townsville.

The Ford Performance Racing driver clocked a fastest lap of one minute, 12.8310 seconds at the Reid Park circuit as the championship’s big guns were overshadowed.

Holden driver Michael Patrizi (1:12.8734) was second-fastest while Jonathon Webb (1:12.9841) came in third.

Championship leader Jamie Whincup, a three-time winner from six starts in Townsville, was the fourth-fastest, pipped by the top three in the closing stages after leading the timesheets for most of the half-hour session.

Whincup’s championship rivals Craig Lowndes, Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom failed to make much of an impact, clocking the day’s 10th, 11th and 23rd-fastest times.

The action resumes on Saturday with qualifying from 11.20am.