James Moffat’s Race 2 victory at the opening round of the 2023 National Trans Am Series as has been annulled, with the crash-shortened race officially declared a non-event.
Moffat loses the win and Series points will not be awarded as a result for Race 2 of the Trans Am Series at AWC Race Tasmania, which was part of the Shannons SpeedSeries.
In the final laps of the race, Moffat passed Ben Grice for the lead, whose Mustang had slowed dramatically which lead to James Simpson’s Dodge Challenger clipping Grice’s car, rolling dramatically and sliding along pit straight on its roof.
While Simpson walked away from the incident, the race was red flagged after 11 laps were completed and Moffat declared the winner – the second of what was a clean sweep for his #34 Mustang in a dominant weekend.
Yet the countback from the red flag – which would see the race winner declared the lap before the incident – had many suggesting that Grice should have been awarded the victory.
Simpson also stated that he was not given any warning that Grice’s slow-moving vehicle was ahead of him, with no white flags waved.
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An independent tribunal was established, consisting of Roland Dane (Chair), Greg Crick and Steven Richard, that has declared Race 2 a non-event due to a lack of laps being completed prior to the red flag.
“We have received the tribunal’s findings and will now carefully consider their recommendations and any further changes or initiatives that may be required both in the short and long term,” Motorsport Australia CEO Eugene Arocca said.
“It is now confirmed the official race result has been declared, meaning no points will be awarded from the category’s second race of the event as it did not meet the minimum race distance.”
The tribunal did not investigate the crash and did not seek to apportion blame, however, did examine the chain of events and response to the incident. It advised that the red flag was the correct response, despite it was enacted by an unauthorised personnel.
This was a symptom of Race Control not acting ‘as a panel’, with the declaration of a race result in contradiction to what is a ‘red flag event’ and a failure to consider this by awarding points and an official finishing order.
Additionally, the medical team ‘lacked clear direction’, with drivers and marshals not tended to in a timely and appropriate manner.
The ‘non-event’ declaration means that Moffat still leads the series, having won the other two races at Symmons Plains.
The second round of the National Trans Am Series takes place at Phillip Island on May 12-14, 2023.
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