High-speed crash for McLaughlin at Sydney test

The DJR Team Penske driver went off at the fast first corner, a deflated tyre pitching him through the sand and into the wall just an hour into this afternoon's four-hour session.

He was sitting on top of the times when he crashed.

"Headed into Turn 1, normal thing, no dramas whatsoever, then the tyre went down and went straight ahead," he said.

"I was pushing the pedal, 1500 PSI, it was doing nothing! I just ended up in the wall.

"It was [a] decent [hit]. Thankfully for most of my career I haven't had a big head-on hit, but that's the biggest I've had.

"The car and everything did its job as per usual, as did the tyre wall. But it skipped across the gravel pretty easily. It went in right-front, pretty much head-on, but moreso right side."

McLaughlin confirmed he was running on a set of the 2017-spec Dunlop tyres, which will be ditched for what's believed to be a hardier construction, like what was used in 2016, for the 2018 season.

"I think it proves and backs the decision of Supercars to move to the '16 tyre," he added.

"We had a '17 tyre on there. I'm guessing that may be the issue, but we'll have to work it out."

After a tough morning session, McLaughlin said he was just starting to find some speed in the car before the crash.

"We just didn't have any other tyres and were trying to get a bit of a baseline of where we were," he said.

"We didn't really have an amazing morning session, we were just bowling around on bad used tyres from 2016. We were just focused on baselining the car.

"To be honest, the car felt awesome. It's just a shame that happened."