CAM Waters is disappointed that he didn’t get to try and secure pole position for the Repco Bathurst 1000 through the traditional Top 10 Shootout but backs the decision to cancel it.
Heavy rain through Saturday afternoon left standing water and rivers running across the circuit, prompting race officials to abandon the session.
That means the Bathurst 1000 grid, for the first time since 1988, will be determined by regular qualifying, handing Waters his second pole position in the ‘Great Race’.
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“I’m disappointed to be honest, I really love the Shootout around here; It’s pretty special to get the place to yourself for a lap,” Waters said.
“I’m disappointed, but I think the officials made the right call.
“I was ready to go – I’d put my suit on, I was starting to listen to music, and I saw the lap the (officials) did around the track and I thought we were going to get going.
“But as soon as you hit a river you aquaplane, you’ve got no control over the car and you don’t want to be writing cars off the day before the big race.”
Waters said the conditions appeared far worse than the prevailing weather in Friday’s qualifying session, which also featured a sizable puddle at Hell Corner and a river of water at the entry to the Chase.
“Yesterday, it was pretty wild in the wet,” Waters said.
“There was a river across the Chase and Turn 1, you literally had no control over the car through that part.
“Yesterday we were lucky because once you got past the river, the track was actually pretty good, where today everything’s just drenched.”
Waters’ previous Bathurst 1000 pole position came during the COVID-impacted running in 2020.
“That was a very special day (but) it was a little bit of a buzzkill because it was COVID and there was no crowd here,” he said.
“This year is going to be a lot better with the crowd on the grid and everything.
“(Pole here) is very special. It’s the biggest race of the year, you want to be starting up the front and on pole.”
