The second leg of the pre-season test at SMP was red-flagged 30 minutes into the evening.
Supercars head of motorsport Tim Edwards, driving standards observer Craig Baird, and contractors spent the best part of 10 minutes at Turn 8.
With everyone happy, testing resumed on the traditional ‘Gardner’ configuration at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Emergency maintenance was undertaken earlier this week after water was discovered weeping through the track surface at Turn 8.
That forced Supercars to split the test and run the shorter ‘Druitt’ configuration on Wednesday to allow the new asphalt enough time to cure.
Some drivers Speedcafe spoke to were concerned that the circuit would deteriorate quickly on Thursday, leaving Supercars no option but to revert to the shorter layout.
Speaking with Speedcafe, Supercars head of motorsport Tim Edwards said he had been given assurance the circuit would be okay.
“We’ve had the contractors out there just now looking at it,” Edwards told Speedcafe.
“They’re best placed because actually they know about asphalt, and the rest of us are just amateurs when it comes to asphalt.
“They’re confident for us to start running on it and we’ll just monitor it.”
Edwards flagged the possibility of red-flagging the session for an inspection, which proved the case after 30 minutes.
Supercars driving standards observer Craig Baird stationing himself at Turn 8 to monitor for any track deterioration.
“Bairdo is keeping a close eye on it. He’s actually going to station himself out there to closely monitor it, and we’ll just see,” Edwards explained.
“If we feel that we need to have a closer look, then we can always do that.”
In any case, Supercars has the option to defer to the shorter ‘Druitt’ configuration.
“We’re fortunate we’re at a venue that actually has alternate track options,” said Edwards.
“If you went to some other tracks where you don’t have alternates, you’re kind of boxed into a corner.
“There’s always remedies, you know, you’ve seen this many times in the past. Those options are available to us.
“We’ve kind of got plan A, B, and C, and we’ll just see how it unfolds.”
Testing on Thursday at Sydney Motorsport Park began at 5:30pm AEDT.
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