Bathurst 1000 LIVE: Wild weather has stars ‘nervous’ as top-10 gets shake-up after disqualification

18 Oct 2020

Fox Sports

Bathurst 1000 LIVE Wild weather has stars nervous as top10 gets shakeup after disqualification

Bathurst 1000, V8 Supercars, race start 11am AEDT: LIVE –

Bathurst 1000, V8 Supercars, race start 11am AEDT: LIVE –

It’s finally here. The Great Race. A 2020 Supercars season like no other will be capped off at the pinnacle of motorsport in the southern hemisphere: Mount Panorama.

161 laps of mayhem and madness kicks off at 11am AEDT.

While Cameron Waters will start from pole position after a lightning-fast Top 10 Shootout lap, it is water and lightning of a different sort that could prove decisive to who tastes glory – or defeat – on Sunday.

Rain played a decisive role in Friday’s qualifying, arriving late in the session and cruelling multiple contenders’ chances, before forecasted storms failed to materialise during Saturday’s Shootout.

Now, all eyes will once again turn to the skies as the V8 engines roar into life for the final time this season.

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Utter carnage in Super 2

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RACE CENTRE: Bathurst 1000 live timing

Race organisers shifted the race start time forward half an hour (to 11am AEDT) in an attempt to ensure anticipated poor weather doesn’t force the race to be called off.

As of late Saturday, the Bureau of Meteorology forecast for race day reads: “Very high (90%) chance of showers, most likely in the morning and afternoon. The chance of a thunderstorm.”

According to BOM, the amount of precipitation is predicted to be 3 to 6mm. The arrival of that rain – if or when it does – could have huge implications on the final leaderboard.

Speaking of forecasts and predictions, Cameron Waters and his superstar co-driver Will Davison are equal favourites to lift the trophy after Waters’ supreme Shootout effort.

“Weather is going to play a big part, there’s going to be a fair bit go down,” said Davison.

“Of course we’re nervous, everyone is, it’s a big day and a big prize in our sport.”

Waters added: “Traditionally at Tickford we don’t really change the car too much going into a wet session, so hopefully the car is good in the wet.

“If not, it’s going to be a long old day, but I think it’ll be OK. Obviously Will’s driven these cars as well so he knows what to expect, so that will probably help us a little bit also.”

That duo is tied in the betting markets with Scott McLaughlin and co-driver Tim Slade. McLaughlin has already sealed his third-straight Supercars championship and the reigning Bathurst winner is looking to go back-to-back in his DJR Team Penske Ford.

Last year’s victory was controversial to say the least, with McLaughlin and co-driver Alex Premat claiming a scintillating win over Shane van Gisbergen – but only after teammate Fabian Coulthard held up the field during a safety car to allow McLaughlin to pit without losing places.

Whether it’s the weather, sneaky tactics or something else entirely, there’s no doubt Bathurst will again deliver 1000 kilometres of gripping action.

PERCAT DISQUALIFIED FROM BATHURST SHOOTOUT

Nick Percat will start the race from 10th; stripped of his fourth-place finish in the Top 10 Shootout due to a technical breach.

The No. 8 Brad Jones Racing Commodore was ruled to be underweight following Percat’s lap, resulting in disqualifaction from the session.

“We weighed the car as it came off the circuit and found it to be underweight,” Supercars Head of Motorsport, Adrian Burgess, explained.

“We repeated that process three times and on each occasion, it produced the same value.

“The car sat on the pit apron for the remainder of the Shootout and we invited the team to have the car weighed again at the end.

“We rechecked the scales with our certified weights and are happy that the due process was followed, so we referred it to the stewards, who have disqualified the car from the session.”