Motorsport: Practice begins at Bathurst

David Russell led practice at the Bathurst 12-Hour endurance race. Photo / Getty

A Lamborghini Gallardo with Australian driver David Russell behind the wheel has set the pace during the opening session of practice for Sunday's Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour endurance race.

Russell lapped the Mt Panorama circuit in 2m 05.92secs, heading a 52-car field by just under half a second from ex-Ferrari F1 driver Mika Salo (Finland) in the Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia.

A heavy accident involving the Maranello Ferrari halted the scheduled one-hour session with six minutes remaining.

Experienced V8 Supercar racer Tony D'Alberto was at the wheel of the Ferrari when it collided with the Craft Bamboo Aston Martin Vantage of Frenchman Jean-Marc Merlin.

Both cars sustained heavy damage and D'Alberto is reported to have been transferred to the circuit's medical centre.

Third quickest time in the opening session was set by Belgian Wolfgang Riep in the sole Nissan GT-R entry at 2m 07.07secs

New Zealand's Trass Family Motorsport made a strong start in spite of only receiving their Ferrari 458 Italia late on Thursday night.

A shipping mix-up had delayed the arrival of the car and the team worked into Friday morning in the pit garage complex to complete final preparation of the car.

With Jono Lester at the wheel the Ferrari was fourth quickest in the opening practice session with a 2m 07.35secs lap.

New Zealander Matt Halliday was eighth quickest in the first session driving the Fitzgerald Racing Audi R8 LMS he shares with Australians Peter Fitzgerald and Michael Almond.