The infamous Bathurst 1000 circuit has already claimed it’s first victim after Mercedes failed to restore Tim Slade’s Benz ready for Friday’s practice.
And it has left everyone wondering if it will even emerge from the pits at all this weekend.
Five-time champ Craig Lowndes’ Holden piloted by co-driver Warren Luff clocked the quickest training time on Friday (two minutes, 08.48 seconds) in front of teammate Jamie Whincup’s deputy Paul Dumbrell (2:08.87).
The shock had been Holden’s intercontinental import Mattias Ekstrom (2:09.13) becoming 3rd fastest in front of final practice and qualifying.
But Slade was only a bystander watching on in hope as his team attempted to resurrect his Mercedes that suffered horrific damage to the front when he stuck a wall on Thursday’s final session.
The group worked continuously until midnight attempting to repair the damage on the front side of the vehicle.
However their hopes lie in form of a support van, some 12 hours away, to finish the monumental repair work.
Team employer Ross Stone ranked the damage as “the most damage we’ve ever before attempted to restore at a competition track”.
He went on to say that their best possible outlook would be for Slade to contest on Saturday morning’s practice.
Slade – the only omission on Friday – after Alex Davison’s Ford was fixed after Thursday practice’s being the only other major incident.
His team worked until midnight to repair his Falcon, guaranteeing 28 cars for Friday.