Sydney Motorsport Park informed Supercars on Monday that emergency resurfacing work was being undertaken at Turn 8 due to water seeping up through the track.
The championship responded by splitting its pre-season test across two days, with Wednesday’s opening four hours undertaken only on the shorter Druitt layout.
Supercars then ran the full circuit on Thursday night – stopping the test after half an hour to see how the new Turn 8 tarmac was holding up.
It was given a clean bill of health and teams are optimistic there’ll be no problems from here on in.
“Supercars were brave,” said Walkinshaw TWG Racing’s Bruce Stewart.
“They made a decision that would have been hard to make at the time, but we trust in them and it looks very good, so eyes forward.“
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Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton noted the level of concern from drivers ahead of Thursday night’s track action.
“All the drivers were a bit nervous when they did the track walk, it felt a bit uncured, but it held up really well, hats off to the people who’ve achieved that,” he said.
New Sydney Motorsport Park surface passes first Supercars test
Team 18 principal Adrian Burgess acknowledged the change made the Wednesday testing less valuable, but was also supportive of the move following Thursday’s smooth session.
“It’s going to take time to rubber in and provide the grip,” he said of the new tarmac.
“But hats off to everybody involved at Supercars and the circuit for having the foresight to keep us off that on Wednesday and protect it for the good of the event.
“The Wednesday test was a little bit of a, I wouldn’t say a waste of time because you’re still always learning, but it wasn’t the ideal preparation for everybody.
“But it’s all the same for all of us, so we’re looking forward to going racing.”
The Supercars field will return to the track for opening practice at 1:55pm AEDT ahead of qualifying at 4:20pm and the season’s opening race at 7:50pm.
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