A warm up lap shunt and the second corner melee which marred Race 3 of the Dunlop Super2 Series at Symmons Plains do not warrant sanction, stewards have determined.
The final race of Round 2 of the series began in bizarre circumstances when Brenton Grove was rear-ended by Tyler Greenbury as the field began the warm up lap.
When the lights did go out to start the race proper, chaos ensued as Garry Jacobson and Jack Smith made contact at Turn 2 which caused the latter to spin and scattered the pack.
Smith escaped a bigger hit as he faced the passing traffic but Matt Chahda launched off the side of Nathan Morcom’s car when they tried to side-step the stricken Brad Jones Racing Commodore.
The incident ended both their races, and Jacobson’s, while Smith went on to 12th position at the chequered flag having started sixth.
Greenbury and Grove, meanwhile, took the start and completed all 25 laps to finish 13th and 16th respectively.
In both cases stewards decided that no driver was predominately to blame.
“An investigation into an incident involving multiple Cars (including Car #18, #21, #26, #38, #54 and #62) was observed at Turn 2 on Lap 1, after a review of Judicial Camera Footage from Cars #5, #15, #16, #18, #21, #26, #38, #54 and #62, no Driver was found to be wholly or predominately to blame for the incident,” read the stewards summary.
Regarding the warm up lap incident, it stated, “Following an investigation into the start of the Formation Lap where Car 13 had an incident with the Car 10 on the Grid, having viewed Broadcast Footage, and in car judicial footage from Cars 10, 13, 54 and 63 neither Driver was wholly of predominantly to blame for the Incident, the RD determined the incident did not warrant being referred to the Stewards.”
Stewards also investigated an alleged incident between Shae Davies and Dean Fiore after the latter limped back to the pits with broken steering, but again did not issue a penalty.
Mason Barbera has, however, lost 35 series points for ‘Reckless Driving’ after a hit with Adam Marjoram at the hairpin on Lap 22.
A five-second penalty was added to Brodie Kostecki’s race time for punting Alex Rullo, but with that decision made during Race 3 there is no change to the results as first classified.
There were no determinations or penalties pertaining to Race 2, though Davies and Jake Kostecki copped penalties for reckless driving in Race 1.
Paul Dumbrell extended his series lead with two race wins in Tasmania while Chris Pither moved to second on the ladder with the round win, ahead of Round 3 at the Perth SuperSprint on May 4-6.