Motorsport: 'Never seen this' - Echidna stops Bathurst 1000

The echidna on the track. Screengrab / Supercars Twitter

Australia's greatest motorsport race is here and it is delivering all the drama Mt Panorama always provides.

The race was held up by the sight of an echidna waddling across the race track at the top of the mountain.

The race was yellow flagged and a safety car was deployed after it first emerged the little critter was crossing to the far side of the track.

Several drivers came terrifyingly close to making contact.

However, fans were able to breathe a sigh of relief when the echidna made it to the wall and was picked up by a safety marshal.

"In my experience we've seen kangaroos, we've seen horses, we've seen trees and water and bits of cars. We have never seen an echidna," Supercars legend Mark Skaife said.

"This place is just madness".

An echidna bunching up the field and winning the hearts and minds of motorsport Twitter is the most Australian thing I have ever heard of

Well done #Bathurst1000 well done https://t.co/PuUuTap2bU pic.twitter.com/RMDNvcegM7

— John Theodore (@john_a_theodore) December 5, 2021

The most Aussie BP Ultimate Safety Car ever 😅😅😅😅😅 #Bathurst1000 #RepcoSC pic.twitter.com/KS6nZEwenh

— Supercars (@supercars) December 5, 2021

The monotreme triggered pit stop madness as cars came into the pits to take advantage of the safety car.

When the race resumed on Lap 109, race leader Chaz Mostert had slotted into second spot behind Shane van Gisbergen. Jamie Whincup was third.

There was another pit stop triggered just a handful of laps later, resulting in David Reynolds taking the race lead ahead of Mostert, van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki.

Kiwi Shane Van Gisbergen started fifth on the grid for the Bathurst 1000. Photo / Photosport

Mostert's day appeared to be blown to pieces after a tyre deflation that saw him plummet down the leaderboard.

Mostert had been racing in clean air as the race leader when he suffered a tyre failure on Lap 50.

His team said after he had been forced into the pits that the tyre issue was the result of debris forcing a puncture to his left rear tyre.

Mostert rejoined the race in 12th with Cam Waters taking the race lead.

The live TV broadcast showed how ripped up the tyre was.

"Oh, my God! This is such a cruel race, isn't it," Supercars legend Mark Skaife said on Fox Sports.

Neil Crompton responded with: "He's in a real pile of trouble".

That was only the beginning of Mostert's drama.

In an insane stint at the wheel, Mostert went berserk to swallow up almost half the field in the space of 15 laps.

Mostert set the fastest lap of the race to retake the lead as rivals Cam Waters and Anton De Pasquale came into the pits for the third time.

Mostert's lead was out to more than 28 seconds after 70 laps.

Skaife described Mostert's Holden as a "rocket".

"He's actually back to having the same lead as he had before he had the tyre issue. Extraordinary," he said.

"Just unbelievable pace."

However, the tyre drama left the Holden team on a different pit stop strategy to its rivals and mystery surrounds how the car's tyres and fuel load will look at the end of the race.

Earlier, there was some jostling on the opening lap with cars making contact in the opening corners as they raced wheel to wheel.

James Moffat suffered an early nightmare when he dropped six spots before the lead drivers had even climbed to the top of the mountain for the first time.