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Russell Ingall has raised the question as to whether or not Supercars should allow all-full-time driver pairings again after carnage in the early stages of this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000.
Ingall brought the issue up in a long and impassioned defence of Zane Goddard on social media after the 22-year-old ran off at The Chase in a bungled attempt to pass Greg Murphy for sixth on Lap 5 and set off a big incident.
He slithered through the mud and back on the track broadside to the traffic exiting the complex, taking out Brad Jones Racing’s #8 ZB Commodore before being shunted by Grove Racing’s #26 Mustang, in which Matt Campbell had no chance to avoid a collision.
Goddard was one of 22 co-drivers, and one of 24 part-timers if the wildcards are accounted for, who started the race in challenging conditions given the standing water on Hell Corner exit and up Mountain Straight which seemed to be the main factor in even greater mayhem on Lap 1.
There were six Safety Car periods in the first 57 laps, four of which can arguably be blamed on co-drivers and two directly on primary drivers
It left Ingall wondering if a change in regulation is needed.
“Zane is a kid that at least gave Europe a swing, and was very successful in F4 both in Britain and Europe and took a lot more chances than many others in the sport,” he wrote, in part, on his Facebook page.
“So maybe we should be looking a bit more on what the solutions could be if we are only going to have one endurance race a year.
“Perhaps change the format that both main game drivers can pair together, or maybe a better solution is that the main nominated driver must start the race – particularly in track conditions like Sunday.”
The Sandown 500 could in fact be in line for a return, which would mean multiple enduro events again, although the last time that was the case, Bathurst was the first, followed by the Gold Coast and then Sandown.
Already, there had been debate about the co-driver rule, introduced effective 2010, by Speedcafe.com readers on a report published in the days out from the Great Race.
Will Davison says his comments were misunderstood, and that he was merely trying to educate a mainstream audience during the radio interview in question, but it was one of the most-read stories in the lead-up to cars going on-track.
Shane van Gisbergen would go on to win the race, for the second time in three years, and laid the blame for the early chaos on the co-drivers.
“It was all the co-drivers and all the people who caused it were co-drivers with something to prove; pretty simple,” said the New Zealander in his longer post-race television interview.
Van Gisbergen shared victory again with Garth Tander, who arguably has nothing to prove given he had already won the Bathurst 1000 three times, and the 2007 championship, before he was essentially forced into early retirement from full-time driving.
Goddard, on the other hand, is half Tander’s age and has stated that he hopes to get back into a Repco Supercars Championship seat of his own.
That point noted, the Lap 1 mess on Mountain Straight appeared to be set off by some far more experienced co-drivers losing control, although stewards would find none wholly or predominantly to blame and track conditions were shocking.
The third Safety Car period was caused by an off for a somewhat inexperienced full-timer in Jake Kostecki and the fourth by Will Davison’s co-driver Alex Davison crashing at The Chase in similar fashion in his 18th Bathurst 1000.
The fifth can be attributed to Tim Blanchard given he ended up in the wall at Forrest’s Elbow after, stewards decided, he failed to leave racing room for Nick Percat, and the sixth to full-timer Macauley Jones getting beached at pit entry.
Only two more Safety Cars were triggered in the latter 104 laps, both due to primary driver crashes, namely those of Todd Hazelwood and Will Davison.
Ingall opined that Goddard had been harshly judged by so-called keyboard warriors, and seemingly put a driver-turned-television commentator in the same boat.
“Yes, it was a mistake,” wrote ‘The Enforcer’.
“Did he do it deliberately? No!
“Was it an ambitious move, I don’t think so.
“In hindsight, maybe he could have waited a few more laps, but if an opportunity is there, you have to have a go. That’s why they call it racing.
“In any other situation he would have gone off line, went through the grass, and re-joined easily.
“For certain individuals to say as the incident was happening he accelerated through, without seeing any data or evidence, really threw Zane under the bus and ignited opinions – unfortunately one sided.
“Do you really think, once the car was aquaplaning, which it was, grabbing throttle or brake would have made any difference!”
Goddard, who apologised for the crash, has been fined $10,000 with half suspended until the end of 2023.
