Bizarre sunlight breach among four Erebus penalties

The team had a lacklustre Race 2 at Hidden Valley with Cooper Murray taking the chequered flag 18th and Jobe Stewart 23rd, ahead only of retiree Ryan Wood.

Those results have become 22nd and 23rd following the addition of 32 seconds to Murray’s race time and 27 seconds to Stewart’s.

Both entries had 27 seconds added as a result of breaching a rule that bans teams from having their tyres in direct sunlight prior to the race.

That is banned to prevent teams from ‘baking’ tyres to increase their pressure before bleeding them down ahead of taking to the track.

Stewards were shown a photograph taken by the category technical manager approximately 30 minutes before the race showing wheels and tyres in direct sunlight.

An Erebus representative explained to stewards that tyres for both cars were in their usual position in the team’s garage.

Pit boom camera footage showed they were initially in full shade but, as time passed, they came to be in the path of direct sunlight.

While stewards accepted the placement was “not deliberately intended to capture direct sunlight”, the rule was broken and the recommended penalty imposed.

The incident is recorded as two separate branches, one for each car.

Erebus was also docked 30 teams’ championship points and $1500 after Stewart departed his pit box during the race with a wheel gun still attached.

Pit rules require each car to be “completely free of all hoses, tools, team members and any other equipment at any time whilst the car is moving”.

Rounding out the rap sheet is an additional five-second penalty awarded to Murray for failing to leave racing room in a battle with Rylan Gray.

The Dick Johnson Racing Mustang was elbowed off the track at the exit of Turn 1 on the opening lap of the 200km contest.

“The stewards determined that the driver of Car 99 breached the Driving Code of Conduct in crowding Car 38 off the edge of the track,” read the report.

“Although Car 38 lost multiple positions, given that the incident occurred at Turn 1 on Lap 1 the Stewards imposed a lesser penalty of five seconds than they would had the incident occurred in different circumstances.”