DID BATHURST CONTRIBUTE TO ABANDONED RACE?
By Dan McCarthy
Date posted: 22 November 2021
Race 30 of the Supercars Championship was abandoned as persistent heavy rain lashed down on the Sydney Motorsport Park venue, with many people in the paddock believing the decision was made with eyes looking towards the Bathurst 1000.
Brad Jones Racing driver Nick Percat was set to start from pole position, just the second of his career, however after six laps behind the safety car, the reg flag was thrown meaning that the race was halted.
It was never restarted as conditions and standing water around the track worsened.
Founder and team principal of BJR, Brad Jones himself believes that conditions were sketchy but possible to race in, he believes the verdict was made with Bathurst in mind.
“Depends how you look at it, I didn’t think it was too wet to race, but we are going to Bathurst in a week,” Jones said to AUTO ACTION.
“There is a lot of responsibility, everyone has been on the road for four weeks, conditions were certainly marginal.
“But at the end of the day the decision has been made and we are going to go home.”
Seven-time champion and future Triple Eight Race Engineering team principal Jamie Whincup agreed with Jones and believes that with the Bathurst 1000 just nine days away, and with Queensland teams unable to return home, it was the right call.
He was asked if the race would have restarted if these two contributions weren’t factors.
“I’m not sure about that,” he said in a press conference attended by AUTO ACTION. “But they are all factors that play into the decision.
“We (Triple Eight) can’t go back to Queensland and fix a bent car, we just can’t get back in the state.
“You’ve got to look at all the factors, you can’t just look at a couple and then make a decision, but they’re certainly part of it.”
The race being canned handed Shane van Gisbergen his second Supercars Championship.
The New Zealander alluded to Turn 1 incidents in the Super2 Series race earlier in the day which were caused by poor visibility.
“You see what happened in the Super2 race, it’s fine for the guys in front of it from fifth, sixth backwards you just can’t see,” he said.
“This tyre is really good except for when there’s a lot of standing water. It’s not a proper wet, but it’s an all-round wet for the intermediate (conditions)
“I guess if it was like qualifying and everyone was running around, after four or five laps, that would have been fine. But just starting the race with the standing would have just been carnage.”
Although racing wasn’t allowed to commence, van Gisbergen was allowed to take a victory lap drifting around the 3.9km circuit.
“He was one of the guys who didn’t want to go out, (and race)” a surprised Jones expressed. “I mean it is a bit different doing donuts and drifting than to actually racing the car.”
Whincup expressed that race direction did well under the tough circumstances.
“Super2 tried to get going but that was a disaster, so all factors considered the powers to be did an excellent job,” he said.
For more of the latest Supercars news pick up the current issue of Auto Action. Also make sure you follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and/or weekly email newsletter for all the latest updates between issues.
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