Officials have suspended the opening heat of the Tyrepower Tasmania Super Sprint following a horrific shunt involving 12 cars at Symmons Plains.

All drivers emerged from the wreckage although Will Davison has been transferred to a hospital in Launceston for precautionary checks after he suffered a huge impact with Rick Kelly’s Nissan.

Early reports suggest Davison is suffering from back pain after the crash.

The incident was triggered Cameron Waters and Garth Tander made contact on the run to the Turn 4 hairpin on the second lap of the race, which began in slippery wet conditions.

As a result of the contact Tander’s Garry Rogers Motorsport Commodore went sideways and tagged the rear of Rick Kelly’s Nissan Altima.

With little room to take avoiding action several cars were caught up in the accident blocking the road. The race was red flagged and suspended.

The crash is expected to have caused more the $5 million worth of damage in what was one of the worst crashes in the championship’s history.

The list of casualties caught up in the incident included the Brad Jones Racing trio of Nick Percat, Tim Slade, Tim Blanchard, Tander (GRM), James Moffat (GRM), Scott Pye (Mobil 1 HSV Racing), James Courtney (Mobil 1 HSV Racing), Alex Rullo (LDM), Davison (Tekno Autosport), Taz Douglas (LDM) and Simona de Silvestro (Nissan).

After a 50 minute delay the race did restart behind the Safety Car with a final lap completed.

Shane van Gisbergen led the field across the line in front of team-mate Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.

Erebus Motorsport’s David Reynolds finished fourth ahead of Chaz Mostert, Jason Bright, Mark Winterbottom, Dale Wood, Todd Kelly and Cameron Waters.

Timing screens showed points had been awarded.

Mostert had led the race before mistake at Turn 1 handed SVG the advantage.

Scott McLaughlin slipped to third and then pitted by mistake when the red flags flew.

Video of the incident

A new angle tells us more about that incident.

Here’s onboard from @fabiancoulthard in Car 12. #VASC pic.twitter.com/taWwlJW1qy

— Supercars (@supercars) April 8, 2017

Full onboard with Will Davison

🎞 REPLAY 🎞

From onboard @will_davison and @jcourtney‘s Holdens. #VASC pic.twitter.com/hiIjaI7FWC

— Supercars (@supercars) April 8, 2017