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Rescheduling the Saturday programme at the Repco Bathurst 1000 to safeguard the now cancelled Top 10 Shootout would have been difficult, says Supercars CEO Shane Howard.
The Shootout was called off for the first time in the event’s history after torrential rain earlier in the afternoon left standing water and rivers across the Mount Panorama circuit.
Thunderstorms had been forecast for around the time of the one-lap dash since the day prior, but moving sessions around is said to not be an easy task.
“We obviously look at everything that we’ve got available to us but once you’re in motion with broadcasts and your schedules, it is very hard to change on the hop,” explained Howard.
“So, that’s a difficult thing to do.
“With weather, you don’t know, and this place has its own sort of environment.
“As we saw, we thought we were going to be getting a lot more rain yesterday and this morning.
“We didn’t get it but it [the heavy rain] certainly coincided with the Shootout time, so that was unfortunate.”
There was also insufficient time to make postponing the Shootout to the morning of race day an option.
“Obviously, we look at all the options open to us, but it’s very difficult to be able to redirect that Top 10 Shootout and the time taken to do that,” said Howard.
“It’s a time issue for tomorrow.
“Obviously, the cars run a different set-up in a Shootout than race, so we don’t have the ability to really manage that in the time available tomorrow.”
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying on the afternoon prior and hence is now classified as the pole-sitter, for the second time in three years.
Either he or James Moffat will start from first position in the #6 Monster Energy Mustang tomorrow at 11:15 local time/AEDT.
Unlike two years ago, when Supercars did bring the start forward due to the threat of rain, the time will remain unchanged this time around.
Before then, the 20-minute Warm Up session starts at 08:00.
