Bathurst champion Craig Lowndes has made a fast start to the Gold Coast 600 Supercars event.

Lowndes, fresh from his stirring victory at Mount Panorama this month, posted the second-fastest time in Friday’s opening practice on the streets of Surfers Paradise.

The Holden veteran clocked a lap of one minute and 11.4352 seconds to finish behind Nissan’s Rick Kelly (1:11.3245) in the first of three half-hour practice runs.

“We’re really pleased where we are,” Lowndes told Fox Sports.

“It’s early days but it’s a good sign.”

The session came to a halt with 30 seconds on the clock after Holden’s James Golding hit the wall just past the chicane on the back straight of the 2.96km street circuit.

The impact appeared to cause significant damage to Golding’s Commodore, leaving the Garry Rogers Motorsport garage with plenty of work to do to get the car ready for the day’s remaining sessions.

Championship leader Shane Van Gisbergen (1:11.5651) posted the seventh-fastest lap of the session, with main rival Scott McLaughlin (1:11.4997) just in front of him in sixth on the time sheets.

Defending champion Jamie Whincup was fifth-quickest.

After more than 160mm of rain fell on Surfers Paradise in the past seven days, Friday’s conditions are hot and sunny.

The next session starting at 1.45pm AEST is for co-drivers only with a third and final session at 5pm AEST for all drivers.