Showers at Mount Panorama have forced the Bathurst 1000 contenders to pull their punches in practice for the Great Race.

Ford pair Will Davison and Alex Premat were quickest in the opening two sessions on Thursday.

Given the forecast of clear skies for the rest of the week, the wet weather led several teams to keep their cars in their garage.

Reigning champion David Reynolds took the morning off, saying there wasn’t enough upside to justify getting in the car.

“We don’t want to risk it,” he said.

Jamie Whincup’s co-driver Paul Dumbrell also didn’t bother getting in his Red Bull Racing Holden during his allotted co-driver session.

Davison is the fastest man on the mountain with a 2min 25.0243sec lap, a full 20 seconds off the lap record.

“Its really hard to learn much when its greasy like that,” he said.

“There’s no right or wrong. We made changes but we were pretty quick the whole session.”

Just one driver – Tim Blanchard – dared to put the slick tyres on but quickly changed back to the wets.

Craig Lowndes, on his last full-time drive at Mount Panorama, completed just a handful of laps during the hour-long session.

Scott McLaughlin, who needs a bundle of points to keep the pressure on series leader Shane van Gisbergen, said he was relaxed, particularly given the pace of his co-driver Premat.

“We feel comfortable. We’re not pushing the limit just yet,” he said.

Teams have one more chance to jump back in the cars on Thursday afternoon, with more practice scheduled for Friday and Saturday, when dry conditions are expected.