In dramatic scenes, the TCR World Tour opener at Sydney Motorsport Park was stopped mid-race after a sudden downpour caused cars on slick tyres to slide off the track.
When the safety car was called out to recover Zac Soutar's stricken Audi RS 3 LMS, rain began falling.
Racing restarted but the drizzle quickly became a deluge and the cars on slick tyres aquaplaned off the track at turn two, one after another.
Stan Sport is the only place to watch every second of the 2023 SpeedSeries. All the action streaming ad-free, live and on demand
Race leader Will Brown was the first to go off and was followed by half the field behind him.
In something of a miracle, hardly any of the cars made contact. Ian McDougall made light contact with the door of Jordan Cox but was otherwise unscathed.
The red flag was quickly drawn as the race was neutralised, bringing everyone back into the pit lane to change onto wet weather tyres.
READ MORE: Racer's season on life support after 'bizarre' 220km/h crash
READ MORE: Former points leader shreds 'joke' penalty u-turn
READ MORE: Racer's huge reprieve as disqualification overturned
"That, gentleman, will be coming to every single social media channel for the next six months," said Stan Sport commentator Paul Jeffrey.
"Folks, this is a nightmare situation and wisely race control calls the red flag, let's put a pause on this one.
"Safety is paramount in motor racing all around the world and no less so here. It's the right call."
Earlier in the race, Ben Bargwanna led the field into turn one while he let carnage unfold behind him.
Leading international Norbert Michelisz of Hungary speared off the road on the exit of turn two with McDougall in tow.
Just behind them, Argentina's Santiago Urrutia made contact with Jordan Cox and sent the Peugeot into a half-spin.
Moments later, Zac Soutar went three-wide with countryman Josh Buchan and leading Lynk & Co racer Ma Qing Hua of China – the latter coming out the other side best placed.
Last year's TCR Australia Series winner Tony D'Alberto had a coming together with Michelisz on the run to turn one (video below), resulting in an awkward tangle and a high-speed spin for the Honda Civic Type R pilot. Michelisz in his Hyundai escaped unscathed but lost positions.
Bargwanna's lead was short-lived and Brown soon made his way through to the lead leaving the Bathurst 1000 winner's son to scramble. Despite his tremendous qualifying pace in the wet, Bargwanna eventually plummeted to 18th.
Then the safety car came out for Soutar's stricken car before the bedlam at turn two that followed.
https://twitter.com/SpeedSeriesAU/status/1720379586457039151
After a lengthy delay to change tyres, the cars ventured back onto the sodden circuit for a dash to the chequered flag.
The race resumed with seven laps to go with Brown ahead of Spaniard Mikel Azcona, the United Kingdom's Robert Huff, Josh Buchan, and TCR Australia Series leader Bailey Sweeny.
On the second time of asking, the field made it through turn two without issue – shod with the appropriate tyres.
https://twitter.com/SpeedSeriesAU/status/1720390683427840444
Brown duly streaked away with the lead, leaving Azcona in his wake. Frenchman Yann Ehrlacher came through to finish third having started 13th just ahead of teammate Ma Qing Hua in fourth.
Huff rounded out the top five followed by Belgian teammate Frederic Vervisch, second-best TCR Australia Series driver Aaron Cameron, Michelisz, Thed Bjork of Sweden, and Argentina's Nestor Girolami.
Cox narrowly missed out on the top 10 reverse grid pole position for race two with an 11th place finish after a frantic fight with Girolami in the dying laps.
Race two of the TCR Australia Series takes place on Saturday at 4.05pm AEDT before race three at 7.55pm AEDT.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.