Global freight delays have caused the organisers of this weekend’s FIA TCR World Tour event in Australia to shorten the schedule, leaving teams with a race against time to prepare their cars for the weekend.
Due to shipping issues, the cars which were originally due to arrive at The Bend Motorsport Park on Monday and Tuesday will now not arrive until Friday afternoon.
This leaves teams only a matter of hours to prepare the cars, and they will instead have to work through the night in the paddock, in full view of fans who are invited to watch the work take place.
The TCR World Tour teams were originally supposed to take part in two practice sessions and qualifying on Friday, but the schedule has now been revised to remove the practice session and push a single 30-minute qualifying session to Saturday morning – pitching drivers into the competitive track action cold.
“This is motorsport theatre at its rawest and most passionate,” said WSC President Marcello Lotti WSC President.
“The commitment of our teams and drivers means fans will get to witness not just the racing, but the extraordinary human effort it takes to put world championship cars on the grid.
“This is the heart and soul of motorsport — and we will literally build these cars overnight.”
The weekend was originally set to feature three races, but with the series supporting the top-tier Australian Supercars championship, there will now only be time for two races on Saturday and Sunday.
“This is a race against time, with crews building cars through the night under lights in the Skidpan,” said Alistair MacDonald, CEO of Shell V-Power Motorsport Park.
“Our 3,000 campers and fans alike are welcome to watch the drama unfold. It evokes memories of Bathurst 1983 when Dick Johnson and his team famously rebuilt a car overnight just to make the start line.
“That same drama and passion will be on show here in South Australia this weekend.”