Sunday, 17 September 2017: Sandown Raceway's turn six has claimed another Supercar - with Taz Douglas hitting the wall and suspending the endurance race on Sunday.

The Sandown 500 has been red flagged and suspended after a first-lap crash by Supercars co-driver Taz Douglas.

Embed from Getty Images
Douglas, driving for Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, ended up in the notorious tyre wall at turn six after duelling with several cars in a manic start to the 500-kilometre classic.

The 33-year-old's Commodore needed to be winched out of the Melbourne mud, leading to a suspended race.

Dean Canto - driving with Mark Winterbottom in the No.5 Falcon - and Ash Walsh - partnering Brad Jones Racing's Tim Slade were also turned around in the helter-skelter opening.

Both will re-start near the back of the pack after pitting to add fuel prior to the suspension.

Winterbottom said the Prodrive Racing Ford had struggled off the grid all weekend.

"For some reason the car is not getting off the line. We're two of the best starters in the category and we're both having trouble with it," he said.

"We're in the back but we're full of fuel and have to soldier on."

Shane Van Gisbergen - one of just two full-time drivers to start the race - was the biggest mover in the opening lap.

The reigning series champion burst out of the blocks and improved from 21st to 13th.

The other full-time driver - Craig Lowndes - leapt from 23th to 17th.

The turn that claimed Douglas was also the site of a major crash on Saturday, when Todd Hazelwood went flying into the tyre wall at incredible speed.

The race will be re-started imminently, but is likely to be shortened as a result of the suspension.