- An ‘unusual’ incident has occurred at Mount Panorama
- It came during a chaotic day at the Bathurst 1000
- The session was postponed after the incident
A bizarre incident occurred at the Bathurst 1000 after a hose brought the second practice session to a halt.
It happened during a chaotic day at the Mount Panorama circuit, after an oil spill earlier in the day also brought proceedings to a standstill.
The reptile is believed to be an eastern brown snake, one of Australia’s most venomous snakes Australian geographic.
It lurked along the side of the track, near Forrest’s Elbow, and was eventually removed by a snake handler after a 30-minute delay.
“We’ve seen some strange things over the years,” Neil Crompton told Channel Seven.
‘We had the echidna. I came across a horse. Larry Perkins and I were hooking over the hill one time and a Labrador jumped out of nowhere.
The snake is believed to be an eastern brown snake, one of the most venomous snakes in Australia
“It wouldn’t be Bathurst without some unusual things happening. In 2021, the echidna crossed paths at The Cutting.”
Supercars wrote on X (formerly Twitter): ‘Most ‘Straya session delay ever.’
Co-commentator Mark Skaife added: “That’s not just any little brown snake. Look at its size. I’m telling you what will be the case, there will be campers watching their TV to make sure it doesn’t come anywhere near their campsite.”
It is not the first time a session at Mount Panorama has been halted due to wildlife, with an echidna set to make its way to the circuit in 2021.
The session, which was supposed to last an hour, was postponed for 20 minutes before restarting after the tube was removed.
Red Bull’s Scott Pye then crashed into the wall on the Cutting section of the circuit.
Pye, the co-driver of championship leader Will Brown, had taken an aggressive line through the corner before losing control of the rear of his car and crashing into the side wall on the other side of the track.
The session would then be red flagged with just 10 minutes to go.
The incident left the car’s right rear wheel sticking out at an awkward angle, which also caused the car to suffer structural damage to the chassis.
Brown, who won the Sandown 500 last month, was optimistic the damage to the car could be repaired in time for Sunday’s race.
The session, which was due to last an hour, was delayed by 20 minutes before resuming, with Red Bull’s Scott Pye crashing into the wall on the Cutting section of the circuit.
Pye was unhurt in the incident, but his car was left with some damage to the chassis, with one wheel sticking out in an awkward direction.
Pye was optimistic the damage could be repaired in time for Sunday’s big race
“It’s one of those things that’s super easy to do. I did it there. I think everyone there has done it,” Brown said.
‘It looks bad on TV, where it’s being ripped out of the wheel there, but hopefully it won’t be too bad.
“We’ve seen small shunts that have big consequences and larger ones that don’t cause as much damage.”
Pye added to Fox Sports: ‘I didn’t think I was offline that much but I just lost the back end and that was it. It was game over,” Pye told Fox Sports reporting.
‘Hopefully I didn’t do too much damage. I feel terrible for the crew and for Will, but luckily it’s the last session of the day and hopefully they can sort it out overnight.”
Jamie Whincup set the pace in the second practice session, finishing with a fast lap time of 2:07.478.