Kevin Weeks is in a stable condition in hospital following a nasty crash in the opening Australian GT Championship race at Sydney Motorsport Park.

The South Australian had been fighting over seventh place on the final lap of the 60 minute encounter when he suffered a violent crash at Turn 8, causing heavy damage to his Supaloc Ford GT.

The 65-year-old former Australian Formula 2 champion was transferred to the nearby Westmead Hospital and is awaiting results of X rays after suffering from chest pains.

Weeks had been joined by V8 Supercars co driver Steve Owen for the race with the pair in contention for victory having led the majority of the contest from pole position.

Australian GT category manager Ken Collier confirmed to Speedcafe.com that Weeks was in a stable condition.

“He has had chest X rays and severe pains in the chest and they awaiting on the outcome of those,” Collier told Speedcafe.com.

“We think he is staying in overnight, he didn’t have much recall of the incident.”

The opening AGT race also saw a high-speed accident for Andrew Jones, who was lucky to emerge unscathed when his Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 careered off the track at Turn 1.

Jones lost control of the #8 entry on the Brabham Straight before the Ferrari burst through a tyre barrier and came to rest against a concrete wall.

Although unsure of the cause, the Brad Jones Racing V8 Supercars co-driver is hopeful the car can be repaired in time for Sunday’s second encounter.

“I’m fine, there was no massive impact,” he confirmed.

“I’m the eternal optimist so while we hit the tyre bundle pretty hard, the car also came to a slow stop once it hit those tyre bundles and hopefully it hasn’t done any structural damage to the car.

“It’s a few body panels and maybe – I’m sure it won’t be this easy – but maybe a bit of a polish and it might be okay for tomorrow.”

The second Australian GT Championship race is scheduled to begin at 0920 local time.