They were warned they would be driven around The Bend.
Still, it came as a surprise on Friday when Supercars series leader Scott McLaughlin "looked like a Gumby" as some of the biggest names came unstuck at the category's newest track - The Bend in South Australia.
Holden gun Shane van Gisbergen - one of only a handful of drivers to have competed at the remote track - delivered an ominous warning before practice, saying rivals would be "caught out" by the Tailem Bend circuit, an hour outside Adelaide.
But it seems nothing could quite prepare them for their first taste of the $110 million circuit.