Champions caught out as ducklings cause Bathurst 1000 chaos
Final practice for the Bathurst 1000 had to be stopped after a family of ducklings wandered onto the track.
No, seriously.
The ducks being recovered from the track. Fox Sports
Just minutes into the session, the red flags flew after the ducks wandered onto Conrod Straight, triggering chaos for the Supercars on track.
Mark Winterbottom, at the wheel of Cameron Waters’ No.6 Ford Mustang, slowed up and was then clobbered up the backside by James Courtney, driving David Reynolds’ Chevrolet Camaro, who didn’t see the yellow flags.
The collision damaged both cars, which heavily compromised the teams' final preparations.
After the red flags were shown, the ducklings were shepherded off the track by marshalls.
When not racing as co-drivers, Courtney and Winterbottom – who won the championship in 2010 and 2015 respectively – are colleagues in the commentary box.
They later "kissed and made up".
“How funny – the two commentary blokes crashing into each other,” Winterbottom said on the broadcast.
"Obviously double waved yellow, I backed off there and he’s hit me full noise. It's done a fair bit of damage.
"You’re not sure if a kangaroo is going to jump out, there’s limited (radio communications) …"
Courtney said the moment was "strange".
Winterbottom and Courtney make contact. Fox Sports
"We just started going so I got up it, Mark and I are going, and then all of a sudden he jumped on the brake halfway down the straight," he said.
"It was either the wall or the back of him. It’s something I wasn’t anticipating to happen, so pretty surprising."
The session was the last time the teams and drivers got to practice on the Mount Panorama circuit before the top-10 shootout and the Bathurst 1000 on Sunday.
