‘The rain’s crazy’: Waters claims Bathurst 1000 pole after shootout canned

Cam Waters will start from pole in the Bathurst 1000 after Saturday’s top 10 shootout was called off due to unsafe track conditions caused by torrential rain at Mount Panorama.

It is the first time since the shootout was introduced in 1978 that it has not gone ahead.

Motorsport Australia officials spent over an hour deliberating whether to let the top 10 drivers from Friday’s first qualifying session take to the track to decide their starting order for Sunday’s race.

But it was deemed unsafe after the final Super2 and Toyota 86 series races were also canned, with rivers of water running on the track at times.

The full starting grid for the Bathurst 1000 was instead decided on the results from first qualifying.

It means Tickford Racing’s Waters will start the Great Race from pole for a second time, having also secured the spot in 2020.

Waters said he was disappointed to see the shootout cancelled but would prefer to see the full field out for Sunday’s race, rather than have cars wrecked in the hazardous conditions.

“The rain was crazy and you saw the rivers and everything going on. It was going to be a bit of a safety thing,” he told Fox Sports. “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. I’m disappointed but I think officials have made the right call.”