Motorsport: Rain forces Pukekohe qualifying to be abandoned

Shane van Gisbergen thought conditions were too wet to drive safely in. Photo / Simon Chapman

Rain has forced the cancelation of qualifying at the ITM Auckland SuperSprint in Pukekohe meaning practice times have set the grid for this afternoon's race.

Ford driver Cam Waters will start the race from pole with championship leader Jamie Whincup starting alongside him. Mark Winterbottom and Kiwi Scott McLaughlin will share the second row while championship contenders Chaz Mostert (fifth), Shane van Gisbergen (sixth) and Fabian Coulthard (seventh) will all start near the front of the field.

The qualifying session was initially delayed nearly 20 minutes before drivers went out for a couple of laps only for the red flag to come out when it became clear it wasn't safe.

Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen, who is often considered the best driver in wet conditions, made it clear he thought it was unsafe to be out there despite posting the fastest time.

"No good I did like a lap at half throttle down the back straight and I just said I'm pitting because this is stupid but then they red flagged it straight away," the Red Bull Holden Racing driver said.

HIGHLIGHTS

Here's how a very wet Qualifying for Race 23 went down at Pukekohe 🌧 #VASC

🎥 https://t.co/q2KkJUstcw pic.twitter.com/SGTexBPzBn

— Supercars (@supercars) November 4, 2017

"It's crazy I don't know what to do now or what they do.

"The back straight is just too new on the surface I think and it's just so shiny and slippery so I don't really want to be out there on that stuff.

"It's the same for everyone, I just hope the rain eases and we can have a safe race if it is wet but that level is just too much."

"I didn't even get full throttle on a lap so I'm not even looking at the times."

Fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin, who is also adept at wet weather racing, was also complaining about how bad conditions were.

"Pretty sketchy out there, that is probably the worst it's been when I've been in a race car out there before," he said.

"It's full on and the spray is bad as it is and there's probably 26 whinging race car drivers here at the moment."

Driving standards advisor Craig Baird went out in the safety car just as the session was due to get underway to check out the condition of the track and the call was made to delay.

He completed a number of laps before ultimately deciding to send drivers out even with light rain falling.

Most cars managed to complete two laps before the red flag came out again.

The race is scheduled to go at 4.10pm but the wet weather is scheduled to continue putting the race in doubt.

"Unfortunately this resurfacing hasn't done us any favours and it is very slippery. Even so, the volume of water on the back straight and the visibility etc just makes it really hard to see how you can run there unless it dries out a lot," Red Bull Racing boss Roland Dane told The Herald.

"Hopefully this might pass through and there might be better weather behind this. The rest of the circuit is reasonably OK but the back straight is the issue."

While the brand new seal is contributing to the issue Dane thinks they haven't done a good enough job with it.

"You can do new tarmac without having the issue there that you've got there," he said. "I don't know where the tarmac came from or what the process was but it is not fit for purpose and unfortunately that is showing up today.

"It was slippery in the dry and our drivers all said yesterday this was going to be a problem if it is wet and it is."

It is unclear what might happen if this afternoon's race is canceled. Dane would certainly encourage running two races on Sunday however.

"That is up to the promoters to look at but I would be in favour of running two races tomorrow and give everyone that is here a ticket for tomorrow. Whether we can physically do that or not I don't know but as a team we would be willing to do that."