Drainage works to continue on Mount Panorama overnight

Work will continue at Mount Panorama tonight to enhance drainage for the Repco Bathurst 1000 after the Top 10 Shootout was cancelled following torrential rain.

Bathurst was hit by a massive downpour midway through Saturday afternoon and the one-lap dash was ultimately called off just minutes before it was scheduled to start due to the prevalence of standing water.

Workers had been seen digging a trench next to Mountain Straight in the half-hour before the cancellation decision, and Supercars CEO Shane Howard said there would be similar efforts between now and race start, late tomorrow morning.

“I think the forecast for tomorrow is improving,” he said.

“We and [circuit owner Bathurst Regional] Council will be doing some work overnight, just trying to make sure those drains are relieved from any debris, et cetera that’s been washed down into them.

“We’ll look at trying to cut some temporary drains just to help dissipate off the circuit where if the grass is elevated above the asphalt there.

“Just the things that are available for them to do, and then we’ll obviously have to manage it on the day.”

Officials even sent a people mover onto the circuit in a bid to clear standing water from Mountain Straight between Hell Corner and the hump, allied with the makeshift drainage works.

Race Director James Taylor said there had been hope that the Shootout would proceed until a second weather front came through, causing the unprecedented cancellation and locking the #6 Tickford Racing Ford Mustang into pole position.

“Best efforts were made to get it going and we were quite proactively trying to reschedule it, but Mother Nature’s beat us on this one,” recounted Taylor.

“What people don’t understand is the water feeds in from the paddocks [but] we were getting quelled; we thought we were going to achieve it until the second front came through, and that just basically damaged the works we were putting in place to correct it.

“We can’t beat Mother Nature and we’re just going to make sure that the venue is perfectly safe, and that everyone involved is going to be well-protected and enjoy tomorrow.”

Last November’s Challenge Bathurst event was also heavily disrupted due to rain and standing water around Mount Panorama.

Asked by Speedcafe.com if the circuit’s drainage is up to standard, and whether Supercars would like to see Council address it, Howard pointed to the nature of the circuit combined with the volume of rain as reason to suggest that little could have been done.

“I think it’s very challenging in an environment like this – just the topography of the circuit – and when you have a weather event like that, with that amount of rain being dropped in a short period of time, with ground that’s already water-soaked, it’s very hard to manage,” he responded.

“The Council are always very proactive in helping us with those situations, but it is a temporary street circuit.

“Driveways and things have to be maintained for the residents and you’ve got some quite elevated ground that actually runs down to the circuit.

“So, when you get that sort of volume, and it’s channeled down there, it’s very hard to manage, so I don’t think that a lot can be done to improve that under those conditions.”

The race start time of 11:15 local time/AEDT is not set to change.

Before then, the Warm Up is due at 08:00 local time/AEDT.