Race 30 of the Repco Supercars Championship has been suspended on Lap 6 as rain continues to fall at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The 64-lap contest started under Safety Car, with five laps notched up under those conditions before Race Control opted to call a red flag.
There has thus been no change to the starting order so far, with pole-sitter Nick Percat (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore) heading championship leader Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore) at the front of the field.
“Red flag, red flag, red flag,” announced race director Tim Schenken over the radio.
“The race is being suspended. The race is being suspended. All drivers to follow the Safety Car into pit lane and stop in the fast lane.”
Supercars head of motorsport Adrian Burgess explained that standing water was the reason for the suspension.
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“Basically, we’re in a bit of a holding pattern,” said Burgess.
“Obviously, there is too much standing water on the circuit to deem it safe to release the cars and let them race, unfortunately.
“So, we’ll see hit here and try to wait for a better patch in the weather.”
As to the likelihood of a restart, he said, “Oh look, I don’t know.
“Twenty minutes ago I thought we were looking good to get going but it’s just intensified a little bit more at the moment, so yeah, my crystal ball is a bit fogged up, I can’t tell you.”
However, on that occasion, trackside crews needed to reset the safety barriers after Angelo Mouzouris and Matt Payne careered into the tyre bundles on the old drag strip beyond Moffat Corner (Turn 1).
Race 30 in the top tier officially started 10 minutes later than scheduled, at 15:30 local time/AEDT, with the red flag continuing beyond 16:20.
Time-certainty is listed in the supplementary regulations as 17:18 plus one lap.
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