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James Courtney has been issued with a $1000 fine for contact with Richie Stanaway on the cool down lap after Saturday’s Race 15 at the CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown.
Supercars officials have confirmed to Speedcafe.com that the Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing driver was hit with a careless driving sanction following an investigation that was concluded this morning.
Footage showed Courtney making side-to-side contact with Stanaway following the race finish which resulted in the Tickford driver being forced onto the grass at Turn 5.
The incident happened after the pair clashed on the final lap of the race as Stanaway bumped Courtney at the final corner.
Stanaway was issued a five second penalty that demoted him to 25th in the race results.
“I didn’t turn into him, I was driving beside him. He initiated the contact,” said Courtney, when asked about the cool down lap incident this morning.
“He turned into to me so that’s it. There is no point talking to that buffoon, I will just do my own thing.”
Reflecting on the last lap incident, Stanaway thought Courtney has developed a problem with his Commodore.
“I thought he had an issue with his car or something,” said Stanaway.
“He was sort of blocking for the last three or four corners of the last lap, I tried to (dive)bomb him into the last corner and then he covered me.
“I bumped into him, he ran wide and when the tyres are so old at the end of a stint like that, if you bump someone they’re never going to get drive onto the straight.
“Obviously he got passed and he wasn’t too happy about it, because he fed me off on the in-lap.
“But to be honest we’re fighting for 80th position, it’s not like it matters. I wasn’t too bothered about it.”
Courtney will start today’s race from ninth after an impressive showing in qualifying, while Stanaway continued to struggle for speed leaving him 26th.
Meanwhile, stewards have cleared Craig Lowndes of an allegation that he impeded Scott Pye in qualifying.
Autobarn Lowndes Racing had initially advised that he had been handed a two-position grid penalty but the subsequent stewards summary reported that no breach had been established.
Lowndes therefore keeps his original starting position of 14th while Pye is set to line up from 19th.
Race 16 is due to start at 1330 local time, 1400 AEST.
