Heavy rain and large amounts of standing water around the 6.213km Mount Panorama circuit has seen the Top Ten Shootout cancelled, yet there’s no threat to the Great Race itself – currently.
Rain is forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology for the entirety of tomorrow’s race, but Supercars race control has not announced any changes to the start time, currently 11:15 AEDT.
Motorsport Australia Race Director, James Taylor, is adamant that preventative measures bring undertaken overnight will enable the 1000km race to go ahead despite the cancellation of the Top Ten Shootout.
“Exactly the same, nothing’s changing, [the] schedule will remain,” Taylor told media.
“Unless we have issues tomorrow with the weather, but predictable weather … it should be fine so long as the works they undertake tonight to prevent it achieve … tomorrow should remain unchanged is what we’re planning on.”
The preventative measures focus on drainage and reducing the amount of standing water across the circuit.
“Just making sure the drains are still functional, don’t get clogged … more preventative, any residual, clean them out, make sure hey can function, that’s all we’re trying to achieve with the [Bathurst Regional] council.”
While last year’s 12:15 start was the latest in the race’s history, in 2020 the scheduled 11:30 start was pushed back 30 minutes to counter inclement weather, with rain and thunderstorms predicted for the Sunday afternoon.
“We have no reason to move it,” Supercars Head of Motorsport, Adrian Burgess, told Speedcafe.com.
In the lead-up to this year’s race, Bathurst has experienced above-average rainfall that has seen significant incidents on track for both Supercars and support categories, while impacting the event itself with the main public parking area closed.
On Wednesday this week, Supercars issued a statement to assure fans there will be racing at Mount Panorama despite the forecast.
“The Repco Bathurst 1000, one of Australia’s premier outdoor sporting events will be proceeding as planned this weekend,” said Howard.
Weather warnings continue for parts of New South Wales, prompting State Emergency Service cautions for those travelling to Bathurst for the event.
Saturday saw the heaviest rain yet, which saw the cancellation of the Porsche Carrera Cup race and the Super2 race which was set to take place before the Top Ten Shootout.
With the starting order determined by the results of yesterday’s qualifying session, which means that Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters/James Moffat will start from pole position alongside the Grove Racing Mustang of Lee Holdsworth/Matt Payne.
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