It was to be a gapped start with single green flag. Unfortunately, it appears the workers did not get the same instructions as they held the SRFs on grid until the Gen3's were out of site. And, the pole sitter was not at the driver's meeting so made no attempt to catch up (probably assumed it was like last year's race) I have radio contact and went on the green call since there is a rather large hill and bridge in your sight line between T10 and the starters stand.
Joe (gee where are all those cars going before I bought radios) W.

I'm late to this chat, I wasn't there, but...

IMHO if a driver skips a manatory meeting and no corrective action is taken what does "mandatory" end up meaning? Any time there is such a meeting and a driver skips it w/o a damn good excuse, like getting struck by lightning, that driver gets put to the back. I bet there would be few repeat offenders.