Bathurst champion Will Davison was injured in a high-speed multimillion-dollar crash that wiped out nearly half the Supercars field in the opening race of the Tasmania SuperSprint on Saturday.
Davison, winner of last year's Bathurst 1000 in a controversial finish, was taken to hospital suffering lower back pain after his Holden Commodore slammed into another car during a 12-car pile-up on the second lap at the Symmons Plains circuit, near Launceston.
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After being checked at the track medical centre, he was taken to Launceston hospital.
Davison's car was one of several that suffered severe damage in the crash, which happened on a slippery track following earlier rain.
![The cars are cleared at Symmonds Plains after a crash in Saturday's Supercars event.](/web/20170410151806im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/g/v/6/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvgv76.png/1491650281147.jpg)
The pile-up, which all but blocked the circuit, involved more than $7million of racing machinery.
It was triggered when cars jostling for position in the blinding spray collided, sending cars spinning across the track as following vehicles ploughed into them.
Some may be wrecked beyond repair and most might be too damaged to be repaired in time for Sunday's second leg of the Tasmania SuperSprint. At a conservative estimate of $600,000 for each car, the damage bill is likely to be more than $2million as 11 of the 12 cars involved were crippled.
Saturday's race, scheduled for 50 laps of the tricky 2.41 km track, was suspended and later restarted behind the safety car before being declared after just two more laps.
Because the race had a fixed finish time determined by broadcast commitments, officials ruled that the results would stand as a completed event with full championship points awarded.
The decision was controversial, with several team bosses claiming the resumption should have been postponed to Sunday morning and the remaining 48 laps completed.
But there is no provision in the rules for a time-certain race – that is, one determined by a time deadline rather than number of laps – to be rescheduled and the results will be recorded as official.
After two laps behind the safety car with the remaining 15 cars in single file, the chequered flag was show to defending V8 champion Shane van Gisbergen, who cruised slowly across the finish line ahead of his Triple Eight Holden teammate Jamie Whincup.
The third Triple Eight Commodore of veteran Craig Lowndes completed the podium, with David Reynolds finishing fourth ahead of pole-winner Chaz Mostert and his Prodrive Racing Ford Falcon teammates Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom.
Gold Coast-based Davison, 34, was taken to Launceston General Hospital after complaining of lower back pain following the huge impact of hitting Rick Kelly's Nissan Altima side-on in the closing moments of the melee.
Having started at the back of the 26-car field after being penalised for an infraction in qualifying, he was trying to avoid the other crashing cars ahead of him by hugging the inside of the track next to the safety barrier.
Davison was almost clear of the carnage when Kelly's car, which was involved in the initial contact that set off the pile-up, was pin-balled back across the track into the path of his Tekno Autosports Commodore.
Davison's car T-boned Kelly's machine, coming to a halt so quickly that he suffered an impact of 9 g, winding him severely as well as jarring his lower back.
The carambolage appeared to have been caused by contact early on the second lap on the first of the Symmons Plains circuits two high-speed kinks between Cam Waters, Garth Tander and Rick Kelly.
In a chain reaction, Waters' Falcon appeared to clip the rear of Tander's Commodore, which in turn slammed into Kelly's Nissan, sending it sideways.
In the ensuing chaos, a further nine cars – including both HSV Racing Holdens and all three Brad Jones Racing Commodores – piled into each other and effectively blocked the track.
Cars slammed into each other close to 200 km/h.
It took nearly an hour to clear the wrecked cars and debris before the race, which was suspended with the survivors waiting on the grid, plus two cars in the pit lane, was completed over two laps behind the safety car at around 80 km/h.
Van Gisbergen, who dominated the opening two races of the season at the Adelaide 500 a month ago, extended his title defence points lead by being awarded the full 150 points for the four-lap race win.
He has 450 points, 108 more than Whincup – although late on Saturday night there was speculation that the decision to award full points would be rescinded.