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It was one of two controversial incidents in Race 11 which divided opinion in the paddock, and we want to gauge your thoughts via this week’s Pirtek Poll.
Cameron Waters took the chequered flag in the earlier Sunday race at Wanneroo Raceway but missed out on victory due to a hotly debated track limits breach while battling for the lead with Will Davison.
Waters was slapped with a five-second penalty, which left the #6 Mustang driver and his Tickford Racing boss Tim Edwards incensed, but there had already been an even bigger moment in the initial stages of the 46-lapper.
On the first flying run down the pit straight, contact between Jack Le Brocq and Scott Pye left the latter with a heavily damaged Supercar.
In his efforts to defend position, Pye chased Le Brocq to the right-hand side of the road, with overlap spinning the #20 Nulon Racing Commodore into the fence at an estimated 175km/h.
The race was subsequently halted to repair a gate in the pit wall, and quickly differing views between the Team 18 and Matt Stone Racing camps emerged.
No further action would be taken on the matter by the stewards, but debate raged as to whether Le Brocq was right to keep his foot in it or whether he should have backed out.
A comment from Le Brocq suggesting him backing out would give Pye power to run him out of road in future seemingly sparked his rival into a harsher stance come the end of day.
Pye, who also missed Race 12 and will have his Holden sent to Walkinshaw Andretti United’s jig, accepted some blame for “misjudging the closing speed [Le Brocq] had” but nevertheless claimed the #34 Truck Assist Racing driver deliberately speared him into the wall.
“He knew what he was doing and he made a statement,” Pye said on Supercars Trackside.
“He made it very clear that he was making a statement by putting me in the wall, and that was that he is not going to be muscled out of position.
“The first touch is always what we look for as a driver and that’s like ‘shit, okay there’s an overlap, I missed it’ but unfortunately he decided I was meeting that concrete wall and he turned left. That was the biggest thing, him hooking left.
“He apologised to the team, so he has taken ownership of it, but he has kind of put himself in a situation now where his statement is probably going to put him in trouble one day.”
Pye then reiterated that Le Brocq “made a conscious decision to put me into the fence and make a statement” and made a swipe along the lines of being a pay driver.
“There’s a lot of people here that have to work late nights now because of someone like Jack Le Brocq,” was Pye’s final remark.
Le Brocq was far more calm about the matter and said he was glad that Pye emerged from the wreckage unscathed.
“It’s unfortunate, you never want to see a crashed car,” he said.
“We had overlap and he kept on coming across and that’s all there was in it.
“I suppose if I gave in and lifted, some would say I probably should have and it probably would have saved the car, but then how many times are you going to keep doing that and he knows he’s going to get away with it?
“It’s a tough one, it’s one of those awkward incidents I think.”
What do you think? Let us know in the Pirtek Poll below.
