What should’ve been a six-hour slog around Mount Panorama was over in a matter of minutes for one Bathurst 1000 hopeful.

Andre Heimgartner and Dale Wood came into the Great Race as Brad Jones Racing’s leading pair.

However, their day was done just five laps into the 161-lapper.

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It came to an abrupt end when Zane Goddard speared his Ford Mustang off the road at The Chase and slid through the muddied grass before firing back across the road.

With nowhere to go, Wood careened into the No.5 Tickford Racing car while David Reynolds’ co-driver Matt Campbell in the No.26 Grove Racing entry followed him in.

All three cars were wrecked in the crash, the No.8 of Wood briefly getting airborne as a result of the contact with the nose of Goddard’s car.

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Wood had been hoping to eclipse his previous person-best finish of fourth, which he claimed in the 2017 edition of the Bathurst 1000 with Chris Pither.

The Melburnian was captured in tears with his wife Jess among those consoling him in the garage.

“This whole build-up is about this one moment, about going racing,” said Wood.

“I felt like we had a very good opportunity with this team with the people I’m with, it’s all awesome.

“And for it to be all over so soon, it’s gutting. This is what you wait all year for, it’s what you work towards all year. For it to be over so soon, I’m absolutely spewing.”

The crash was one of just a handful of incidents in the opening stage of the race.

A lap one calamity claimed the Thomas Randle/Zak Best car, which slammed into the concrete wall after Jack Perkins (with Will Brown) and Jamie Whincup (with Broc Feeney) spun on the wet asphalt up Mountain Straight.

Four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Greg Murphy, who made his first start since 2014, noted the frantic start to the race.

“What’s everyone doing? Are they trying to win it in the first stint? It’s like, man, no one has learned. It’s amazing,” said Murphy.

“I was trying to stay out of the way of a few. Anyway, it’s just madness, complete madness. You had to have eyes in the back of your head.”

Lap one chaos at Bathurst 1000

With 100 laps to go, Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander led the race for Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Brodie Kostecki and David Russell held second while Anton De Pasquale and Tony D’Alberto were third.

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