It may be just the Supercars season-opener, but there’s already heartbreak for driver Tim Slade.

Slade cut a dejected figure at the base of Mount Panorama on Saturday after slamming his CoolDrive Mustang into the wall.

But it could have been much worse for Slade.

WATCH THE CRASH IN THE PLAYER ABOVE

The 35-year-old slammed into the wall in a near-identical spot to Chaz Mostert, which left him with a broken leg and wrist back in 2015.

Slade was on track for a podium finish for Blanchard Racing Team when he made the “monstrous” contact at the top of the mountain with just five laps to go.

“Slade has whacked the wall big time at the top of the mountain... Slade has binned that thing,” stunned commentator Neil Crompton said.

“The fairytale just turned into a nightmare.

“As he put his foot on the brake and fed it a gear, it’s jumped sideways.

“That has destroyed the left hand side of that car.

“That is heartbreaking... it’s a cruel sport.”

Slade last drove in Supercars back in 2019 and had impressed on the comeback trail.

But his fairytale return ended in heartbreak, with the 35-year-old withdrawn from Sunday’s race as a result of the damage sustained.

"I'm absolutely shattered for the rest of the team,” he said after the race.

“I went to downshift in the normal spot, and it went into a sort of neutral, and I went to grab it again and it's gone two gears at once.

"It's gone to first instead of second, and sort of compression-locked the rears and sent me into the fence.”