Dick Johnson Racing expects that it will need to send its #17 Ford back to Pace Innovations for repairs after a sizeable crash at the Sandown 500.
Tim Blanchard’s co-driver Ashley Walsh made heavy contact with the tyre barriers on the outside of the Turn 6 sweeper during his second stint of the race after a mistake in traffic.
It is estimated that the front-right corner of the Falcon hit the wall at more than 200km/h.
The crash was the first major accident this year for the DJR cars, which feature Pace-built chassis fitted out with Ford Performance Racing suspension.
“It looks like we’re going to have to send it back to Pace and have it looked at,” a DJR spokesman confirmed to Speedcafe.com in the Sandown paddock on Sunday evening.
“We won’t know the full extent of the damage until we get it back to DJR’s facilities, but it was obviously quite a big hit.
“Fortunately Ash walked out of it ok. It’s the longest he’s been in one of these cars in a single stint and he was doing quite a good job up until then.
“It was a shame that it ended the way that it did but we’ll have it fixed and ready for Bathurst.”
The 25-year-old Walsh had emerged from the crash, which came on his debut in the main series, shaken but uninjured.
“I was following the Erebus car (Craig Baird) past one of the Nissans (Taz Douglas)… it braked earlier than expected and that caught me out,” recounted the Dunlop Series front-runner.
“I locked my front over the bumps there and it went in.
“The car was reasonable and I was picking off cars as I could. I wasn’t trying to do anything stupid and I wasn’t trying to make any big moves or anything, but it caught me out. It happens.
“I’m fine, just really disappointed for Tim and for the DJR team who have worked really hard this weekend.”
The Sunday crash came just a day after nose-to-tail contact with another car in the first qualifying sprint race had seen Walsh suffer a spectacular bonnet pin failure that sent much of the car’s front-end bodywork flying across the main straight.
Adding to the pain at DJR was a lowly 14th place finish for its lead Chaz Mostert/Dale Wood entry.
Starting from the front-row, the pair had maintained their position as a podium threat until Mostert earned a drive-through penalty for pitlane speeding at the halfway mark.
Mired back in the pack thereafter, Mostert clawed his way through to run 13th heading into the final corner of the race, where he was unceremoniously taken out by Jonathon Webb’s Tekno Holden.
Webb later received a 25 point penalty for the collision.
