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Why an ‘unusual’ wildlife incident caused chaos during Bathhurst 1000 practice session, before championship leader smashes into a wall


  • An ‘unusual’ incident has occurred at Mount Panorama 
  • It came during a chaotic day at the Bathurst 1000 
  • The session was delayed after the incident 

A bizarre incident unfolded at the Bathurst 1000 after a snake brought the second practice session to a halt.

It came during a chaotic day at the Mount Panorama track, after an oil spill earlier in the day had also caused proceedings to come to a halt.

The reptile is believed to be an eastern brown snake, one of Australia’s most venomous snakes, according to Australian Geographic.

It had been lurking along the side of the track near to Forrest’s Elbow and was eventually removed by a snake handler following a 30-minute delay.

‘We’ve seen some odd things over the years,’ Neil Crompton said to Channel Seven.

‘We had the echidna. I confronted a horse. Larry Perkins and I were hooking over the hill once and a labrador jumped out of nowhere.

Why an ‘unusual’ wildlife incident caused chaos during Bathhurst 1000 practice session, before championship leader smashes into a wall

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 unfolding. The echidna crossed the track at The Cutting in 2021.’

Supercars wrote on X (formerly Twitter): ‘The most ‘Straya session delay ever.’ 

Co-commentator Mark Skaife added: ‘That’s not just a little brown snake. Look at the size of it. I tell you what will also be the case, there will be campers looking at their TVs just to make sure it’s not going anywhere near their campsite.’

It’s not the first time that a session at Mount Panorama has been halted due to wildlife, with an echidna finding its way onto the track in 2021.

The session, which was due to last an hour, was delayed by 20 minutes before being restarted after the snake had been removed. 

Red Bull’s Scott Pye subsequently crashing into the wall at the Cutting section of the circuit.

Pye, who is the co-driver of championship leader Will Brown, had taken an aggressive line through the turning, before losing control over the rear of his car and slamming into the side wall on the far side of the track.

The session would subsequently be red-flagged with just 10 minutes left to go.

The incident left the back-right wheel of the car sticking out at an awkward angle, with the car also sustaining structural damage to its chassis.

Brown, who won last month’s Sandown 500, was optimistic that 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 being restarted, with Red Bull's Scott Pye crashing into the wall at the Cutting section of the circuit

The session, which was due to last an hour, was delayed by 20 minutes before being restarted, with Red Bull’s Scott Pye crashing into the wall at the Cutting section of the circuit

Pye was unharmed in the incident, but his car was left with a some damage to its chassis with one wheel sticking out in an awkward direction

Pye was unharmed in the incident, but his car was left with a some damage to its chassis with one wheel sticking out in an awkward direction

Pye was optimistic that the damage could be repaired in time for Sunday's big race

Pye was optimistic that the damage could be repaired in time for Sunday’s big race 

‘It’s one of those things that are super easy to do. I’ve done it there. I think everyone’s done it there,’ Brown said.

‘It looks bad on TV, where it’s torn out the wheel there, but hopefully it’s not too bad.

‘We’ve seen small shunts that have big consequences and bigger ones that don’t do that much damage.’

Pye added to Fox Sports: ‘I didn’t think I was offline that much but I just lost the rear and that was it. It was game over,” Pye told Fox Sports’ coverage.

‘Hopefully, I haven’t done too much damage. I feel terrible for the crew and for Will, but luckily it’s the last session of the day and they can fix it up overnight hopefully.’

Jamie Whincup set the pace in the second practice session finishing up with a fast lap time of 2:07.478.


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