Cameron Waters escaped penalty for his run-in with Shane van Gisbergen in Race 20 because of the latter’s movement across the front of the Mustang, according to Supercars stewards.
Van Gisbergen was apparently not happy with what transpired, based on what radio transmission was captured on broadcast, but no sanction ensued.
According to the stewards report, the matter was not referred to them by the Deputy Race Director (listed as David Mori, James Delzoppo) and Driving Standards Advisor Craig Baird, and hence no penalty issued, with the reason being as follows:
“An allegation by Triple Eight Racing that Car 6 gained an unfair advantage from avoidable contact with Car 97 at turn 14 as a result of which Car 6 gained a position.
“Video footage showed that Car 6 had slight overlap on Car 97 and Car 97 moved slightly across the front of Car 6 and minor contact resulted.
“No breach of the Rules by the Driver of Car 6 was observed.”
In fact, no penalties have been issued at all so far this weekend at the OTR SuperSprint despite five incidents being investigated in Race 20.
That includes Chaz Mostert’s pass for second on Thomas Randle, when the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver appeared to run his Tickford rival wide as they exited the Turn 6 hairpin.
On that, stewards reported, “Video evidence revealed that Car 25 made minor contact with Car 55 after the apex of turn 6 and although this had the consequence of crowding Car 55 wide, Car 55 lost the position because the concrete apron on the exit of the turn finished early and Car 55 had insufficient space to hold position on the outside to have the inside line for turn 7.”
Furthermore, Grove Racing’s David Reynolds was cleared over a hit with Blanchard Racing Team’s Todd Hazelwood at Turn 6.
“An Incident on Lap 8 when Car 26 [Reynolds] made contact with Car 3 [Hazelwood] at the entry to turn 6 as a result of which Car 3 lost a position,” was how the incident was described.
“Video footage showed Car 26 had overlap on Car 3 at the entry to turn 3 and Car 3 had attempted to anticipate Car 26’s overtake and moved left under brakes which left no racing room for Car 26 on the inside and the contact occurred in that context.”
The first-corner melee which took Erebus Motorsport championship contender Will Brown out of the race also resulted in no further action, as announced during the race.
Stewards explained, “Footage showed that Car 11 [Anton De Pasquale] made minor contact with the rear of Car 9 [Brown] at the entry to turn 1 which unsettled Car 9.
“At the apex of the turn, Car 2 [Nick Percat] was on the inside and Car 34 [Jack Le Brocq] filled the gap between Cars 9 and 2.
“Because Car 9 was unsettled from the contact by Car 11, Car 9 had oversteer which caused it to move across the front of Car 34 and contact occurred causing Car 9 to spin.
“Car 34 had left room for Car 9 on the outside.
“The DSA considered that no Driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for the Incident.”
Finally, Tickford alleged that Team 18’s Scott Pye passed Declan Fraser under the Safety Car which ensued from that Turn 1 incident, but neither video evidence nor timing could not confirm the claim.