An unfortunately timed Safety Car period at the mid-point of the race forced officials to adjust the timing of the mandatory pit stop [MPS] window.
Due to the timed nature of pit stops in GT4 Australia, mandatory stops cannot be served under yellow flag conditions.
Following the yellow flag period, several cars followed the Safety Car directly into pit lane as the race leader took the green for the restart.
Under Article 20.1.2 of the Monochrome GT4 Australia Sporting Regulations, competitors are required to have crossed the control line under green flag conditions before serving the mandatory pit stop.
The stewards report issued following the race stated:
“Each of the cars entered Pit Lane to commence Mandatory Pit Stop before crossing the control line after the display of the green flag at the end of a Safety Car deployment when the MPS pit window had been delayed.
“A Safety Car deployment caused the delay in the opening of the Mandatory Pit Stop window.
“When the green flag was displayed at the end of the Safety Car deployment, several cars entered Pit Lane to complete their MPS without having first crossed the control line.
“The circumstances were unusual and each team manager had believed that it was not improper to commence the Pit Stop.”
Of the cars that finished provisionally in the top 10, only car #35 of Blake Tracey/George Miedecke and car #46 of Jensen Shearer had completed their MPS legally.
Race winners Tom Hayman/Jett Murray kept the outright victory despite the additional 20 seconds, with Tracey falling just 0.49s short of stealing the win.
Silver-Am Cup provisional winners Aaron Seton/Jason Gomersal were relegated from third outright to 10th, handing the class victory to Cameron Crick/Dean Campbell.
Am Cup winner Ryan Sorensen was penalised 40 seconds for a separate breach, with Glenn Walker being awarded the win post-race.
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