Craig Lowndes has been handed a post-race drive-through penalty for his clash with Todd Kelly in Race 21 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Phillip Island today.
Lowndes, driver of the #888 TeamVodafone Falcon, clashed Kelly at turn two at the mid-way point of the race, sending Kelly’s #7 Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE into the sand trap.
Lowndes was able to reverse out of the gravel, but Kelly was stranded.
A post race investigation added 38 seconds pit lane penalty to Lowndes’s race time, putting him back in 28th.
“It was a disappointing way to finish the day,” Lowndes said.
“I had a good car and was running strongly in fourth but the battle with Todd came to a head at Turn 2 and unfortunately we both ended up in the gravel.”
Kelly was a little more animated post-race.
“He passed me at MG (Corner) and we swapped sides for a little bit. It was really good, enjoyable racing without anyone doing anything silly.
“Then he went in narrow into Turn 1 and had a bit of a slide and I basically got passed him and gave him plenty of room into Turn 2 and he’s just come in and speared me off.
“He hit my rear bumper and speared me off, so it was a little bit of a shame. I don’t know what he was doing there.”
It was the second incident that Kelly had been involved in during the race. The Holden man bumped the back of Jason Bright’s Fujitsu Falcon on the opening lap (see separate story), but the stewards deemed there to be no foul play.
