Friday afternoon’s session lasted just five of its scheduled 15 minutes before being red flagged due to heavy Turn 8 crashes for Cam Hill and David Reynolds.
Damage to the circuit barriers was such that repairs could not be made in time to resume the session this evening.
Race director James Taylor explained that efforts to get the session finished today came up against a circuit curfew.
“We went red flag and then the recovery resourcing commenced. Then we were looking at the fact it was going to be a lengthy process to resume,” he detailed.
“So we already started a process via the stewards… looking into what extension time we could get this evening, what was the maximum we could run to tonight.
“There was an arrangement on that [between Supercars and the promoter, the South Australian Motor Sport Board]. Then we reached a point where we bypassed our maximum time, which was 6:15.
“We made an announcement that it was suspended and then looked into the next avenue, is it possible to resume the session tomorrow at some point in time?”
While 21 of the 24 cars had set a lap time before the red flags, few had done a time near their potential.
Saturday morning’s schedule includes a 30-minute Supercars practice session, appearing to provide the perfect window in which to slot the remaining 10 minutes of qualifying.
Stewards recommended to declare the session and let the results stand as of the five minutes completed, despite the rescheduling option existing.
“It’s similar if it rained halfway through, it’s an incident out of our control,” said Taylor.
“There would be similar circumstances if we had a sudden downpour halfway through.
“We exercised every avenue that we could to resume and make sure it’s in the safest possible manner.
“The fairest for the sport in general is the way it’s gone down.
“Some teams set a banker in case an incident happened. Some won, some lost.”
Officials are understood to have been reluctant to set a rescheduling precedent, potentially opening themselves up to protests in future.
Walkinshaw Andretti United team boss Ryan Walkinshaw spoke out against the decision, declaring fans have been robbed by the move.
WAU spearhead Chaz Mostert was among the three not to set a time and ended the session classified 22nd – between Reynolds and Hill.
Team 18 and Matt Stone Racing are set to undertake all-night repair efforts to get Reynolds and Hill back on track.
The big winners from the decision not to resume the session are Brad Jones Racing and the Blanchard Racing Team – which make up a combined five drivers in Saturday’s Top 10 Shootout field.
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