The Brad Jones Racing driver was one of two involved in the bizarre incident mid-way through the 120-kilometre race.
The hairy nature of Ruapuna’s pit entry has been a talking point all weekend, between the heavily off-camber left-hander to get into the pit access lane, and then a relatively long, third-gear blast to the control line itself.
That the control line is situated after a chicane with tyre bundles, which can be attacked at speed, adds to the jeopardy of approaching pit lane.
James Golding became the first driver to be badly bitten by the pit entry in the first Saturday race when he tagged the wall with his right-rear wheel on the way out of the left-hander.
That tipped him into a spin and left him effectively blocking the road unsighted of anybody else that tried to enter the lane.
*insert Austin Powers meme*
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The unlucky driver to come across the stricken Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang was Jones, who narrowly avoided contact by firing his Toyota Supra to the left onto the grass.
“It felt pretty spectacular once I got past it, but in the moment, I had arms and legs going everywhere,” Jones told the broadcast.
“It was pretty chaotic. I saw some dust as I came around, and I couldn’t see the car there because of the wall when you come over the hump, and I was in the air, landing, going, ‘uh oh, this isn’t going to be good!’.
“I sort of surprised myself getting away with that one pretty cleanly.”
Golding recovered from his spin to finish 15th while Jones came home 18th.
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