Brad Jones Racing has confirmed that Jason Bright will miss this afternoon’s second sprint race at Pukekohe following a heavy accident in Race 24.
Bright’s car struck the right-side concrete barrier at Turn 9 after contact with the Super Black Ford of Chris Pither.
Subsequently coming to rest sideways at the pitlane entry, the race had to be red flagged while the stricken Commodore was recovered.
The team has confirmed that Bright will not return to the track today as it strips back the damaged panels in the hope of returning for Sunday.
Bright said that Pither, who received a drive-through for the clash, had failed to give enough room to run side-by-side.
“All I can say is that the guy on the inside has to leave the one on the outside racing room,” said Bright, who had qualified 17th for this afternoon’s second race.
“I feel like he knew I was there and I didn’t do anything wrong.
“I’m not sure if he got the kerb or what but it got into the side of us pretty hard and put me in the grass.
“Once it made the grass it found its way into the wall pretty quick.
“It was a big whack in the right-rear but we’ll see what the guys can salvage.”
Pither was reluctant to take blame for the incident before seeing any replays.
“I felt a bit of a bump in the right-rear wheel in the apex of the corner and from there I’m not quite sure what happened,” he said.
“Turning left, he’s going to want to be as far left as possible and there’s been contact.
“We need to have a bit of a look at it to see who’s at fault, but obviously it’s unfortunate.”
BLOW-BY-BLOW 💥 @iJasonBright‘s Race 24 crash. #VASC pic.twitter.com/i5j4EkURcP
— Supercars (@supercars) November 5, 2016