Beach chicane sensor turned off after successful trial
Gold Coast beach chicane sensor turned off after successful trial
Turn 2 loop deactivated in Practice 1, Turn 9 loop later turned off for Practice 2
Officials confirm both sensors will remain off for rest of weekend
An additional kerb loop sensor has been turned off following a successful trial during Friday practice at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, with the track schedule also altered due to a support category accident.
Kerb strikes were the flavour of the first session of the weekend, even though the Turn 2 sensor at the first chicane had been deactivated in a trial.
A whopping 189 kerb strikes were recorded during Practice 1 at the world-famous chicane along Main Beach, with the Turn 9 sensor deactivated for Practice 2 in another trial.
In the same note to competitors on Friday, officials confirmed the Turn 2 sensor would remain deactivated for the rest of the weekend.
The trials were taking place following discussions with Supercars and Motorsport Australia, in consultation with drivers.
In a memo issued to competitors before Boost Mobile Qualifying on Saturday, Motorsport Australia confirmed the Turn 9 loop would also be deactivated for the rest of the weekend:
Turn 9: Following consultation with Drivers, the Motorsport Australia Race Direction team and Supercars, the Kerb loop at Turn 9 will remain deactivated for the reminder of the event.
Short Cut Loops: All Short Cut loops will be activated during all sessions, any Short Cut breaches during Qualifying and Top Ten Shootout will result in that lap being deleted. Any Short Cut breaches during a Race will be referred to the Stewards.
A crash in Toyota 86 qualifying also led to a lengthy delay due to track repairs, with Boost Mobile Qualifying pushed back to 11:20am local time/12:20pm AEDT, and the Top Ten Shootout to 12:40pm local time/1:40pm AEDT.
Drivers continued to attack the two chicanes in the second session, which was topped by Tickford Racing driver Thomas Randle, who was trailed by teammate Cam Waters.
Speaking after Practice 2, Waters backed the initiative to turn the sensors off, claiming it will make for a greater show on track.
"For me, it probably doesn't make much difference. Like you're just going to drive to what you got, but I think it's going to be a better spectacle and better to watch,” the Ford star said in the press conference.
"Like at the end of the day, they self-police; you take too much, you get too much air and you can't turn, which slows you down anyway. But it hopefully should eliminate all the kerb hops, that's such a talking point in qualifying and the Shootout.
“We're going a lot quicker through the front chicane, but at the same time, we can't really push it any harder because it's slower.
“The back chicane from Practice 1 to Practice 2 was heaps better. Practice 1, it was like super sensitive. It was really crazy. And then turning one of them off was heaps better."
