Team WRT driver Kelvin van der Linde struck a small kangaroo in the opening minutes of the race, which ricocheted across the nose of the Ellis car.
The #32 BMW M4 suffered damage to its right-front corner while the #44 Mercedes-AMG was worse off.
That incident occured not long before the ugly scenes involving the Christopher Mies-driven #64 Haupt Racing Team Ford Mustang.
“We always kind of expect kangaroos on the track, but this year has been particularly bad,” Ellis told Speedcafe.
“Actually, I didn’t even hit the same kangaroo [as the Mustang] I hit one a few laps after that one, so there was another one that we hit, which unfortunately really hurt us.
“We had a little bit of damage on the cooler grill, which wasn’t too bad, but a little bit on the air intake, a little bit on the splitter, and now actually one of the hood latches broke, so we had to pit-in under green again to try and fix it.
“Now we’re basically chasing issue after issue, what came after that, so it’s a bit unfortunate.
“The car is running great still, so it would have been interesting to see what it would have been without the damage. It’s still a long way to go and we’re still in it.”
After his bloody accident, Mies called for further measures to reduce the threat of kangaroos crossing the track. One solution he proposed was moving the start time back.
‘Had to vomit’: Ford star details gruesome kangaroo hit aftermath
Ellis, however, said there is an element of accepted risk at Mount Panorama.
“You can always blame someone, I’m not sure if that’s the right attitude,” he explained.
“We have inherent risk already going racing, right? I can’t remember the last time we had it this bad, so I think it’s just unfortunate or unfortunate incidents that we had so far. Luckily, we haven’t had any more yet.
“It’s a tricky question. I don’t know what you could change without drastically changing the track, which would be a shame because it has a great character.”
It was a horror start to the race on the whole for the Tigani Motorsport trio.
The #44 Geyer Valmont-backed Pro-Am car suffered an alternator failure before the #47 Supabarn Bronze car had an ignition issue.
Repairs to the #6 Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG put it several laps down, though the ‘Lucky Dog’ rule has helped the squad’s hopes. With four hours and 40 minutes remaining, that car is one lap down.
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