The Grove Mercedes was badly damaged during Saturday’s opening race when Brenton Grove came across Gracie’s spun Audi at a restart.
The ensuing contact not only ruled father/son duo Brenton and Stephen out of the race, but has led to the team withdrawing from the remainder of the event.
“I was trying to mind my own business on the restart as we had a [pit lane penalty] to serve that lap,” said the younger Grove.
“However, a few cars ahead seemed to forget that we still had a third of the race to go and decided to dive Renee at the first corner.
“We were caught up in an unnecessary incident. I would’ve thought the guys would be smarter with the experience they have, but clearly not.
“The car has too much damage to fix safely for today. So it’s best to take it offline and fix the car properly before Phillip Island.”
The Grove Mercedes is the second car to be withdrawn from QR after Volante Rosso’s new Aston Martin crashed out in qualifying.
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