Red Bull Racing Australia stands firm on its criticism over safety car penalties served on Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes at the Austin round last month.
Whincup and Lowndes were both penalised 30 points over alleged breaches under the safety car at the maiden US race.
As tensions continue to simmer several weeks after the event, Whincup voiced some strong comments about the way officials handled the investigation and the subsequent points penalties.
What had been established is that leader Fabian Coulthard’s engineer had wrongly called his driver to accelerate before the safety car had rolled into pit lane causing at least Lowndes and Whincup to accelerate.
However the only penalties handed out were to those leading three cars, sparking debate up and down the paddock. V8 Supercars have subsequently made key amendments to the Safety Car procedure rules.
Whincup stands by his statement but at no stage does he wish for his comments to imply that the system is corrupt.
“My use of the words ‘outside influences’ was misconstrued,” Whincup said.
“What I said I stand by however, people should not read into my comments that I implied the judicial system is corrupt. I apologise for causing any misconception.
“But, hey, that’s racing. Now at least we’ve all got a safety car system that will work better for everyone. Let’s just get our heads down and get some good results this weekend.”
