Bright to miss Barbagallo after practice crash.

Fujitsu Racing's Jason Bright is out of this weekend's second round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway after his Falcon sustained heavy damage in today's practice session.

Bright had completed just seven laps in the session and had set the 11th quickest time up until that point when his engine cut-out. Attempting to pull-off the circuit onto the link-road that is used for the shorter version of the track, Bright's car was struck at speed by Jason Richards. Although both cars sustained major damage, neither driver was injured.

The right rear of the Fujitsu Racing Falcon has been destroyed. Extensive damage was sustained to the roll cage as well as to the differential. The gearbox and engine also copped the brunt of the impact.

After assessing the smashed Falcon, the crew has decided to ship the car back to Melbourne tonight for it to arrive on Sunday.

A number of crew members will complete their compulsory pit-stop in Sunday's second race for the sister-car of Alan Gurr. They will then leave the circuit immediately to board a flight to Melbourne and head straight to the team's Dandenong base to begin the repairs.

The major issue is the next round in New Zealand on April 20-22. The cars and equipment have to be ready to leave Melbourne on Saturday April 14 to drive to Brisbane where they will be air freighted across the Tasman.

"It's just so disappointing as we are not only out of this weekend, but it heavily compromises our preparations for the next round in New Zealand," said Bright. "I really want the guys to concentrate on what they need to do for the IRWIN Racing car this weekend, but we've already had to start thinking about New Zealand.

"Everything was going really well today. I had just gone through turns two and three and the engine cut completely. We believe it must have been an electrical problem. I tried to duck across onto the link road and then got crunched.

"The officials did have the white flags out to warn the other cars that I was moving slowly, but Jason obviously didn't expect me to moving that slow. I know that he didn't mean to wreck our car, or for that sake his own, so it's very disappointing to have had this happen in a practice session.

"I guess I now play the role as team owner this weekend. I will obviously concentrate my efforts on assisting Alan Gurr and see if we can get that car a result this weekend."

Gurr was placed 24th in the practice session after experiencing some minor engine issues.