Why Golding got a ‘large’ but meaningless penalty

Golding drew the penalty from his late-race altercation with Ryan Wood while battling over fifth place, which left Wood out of the race altogether, and Golding at the back of the field.

After Golding ran wide at Turn 1 the pair found themselves side-by-side through the tricky ‘esses’ part of the Wanneroo circuit, before Golding hit Wood as they came into the left-hand Turn 4.

The contact left both cars with broken steering, with Wood left stranded, while Golding was able to limp back to his garage for repairs.

It was during those repairs that race control slapped the PremiAir Racing driver with a somewhat meaningless drive-through penalty, given he was already at the very back of the field.

So why did officials even bother?

“The silly part is that it probably didn’t have an effect,” Supercars driving standards advisor Craig Baird explained to Speedcafe.

“But we’re busy adjudicating on the incident – we make a call off a recommended penalties chart and we’re not even looking whether the car is on track or not.

“We give our recommendation to the stewards in the room next door and they present the penalty. You can’t forecast those other factors, like whether the car is in or out of the race.

“It’s the same with a Safety Car, that can make a penalty seem too big or too small.”

MASSIVE DRAMA IN THE RACE FOR THE SPRINT CUP!

GOLDING AND WOOD FIND EACH OTHER AND RUN EACH OTHER OFF THE ROAD.#RepcoSC #Supercars pic.twitter.com/ViTw8chJbc

— Supercars (@supercars) June 8, 2025

Race control generally works with three levels of in-race penalties for driving infringements known as small (five seconds), medium (15 seconds) and large (drive-through penalty).

That Golding copped the large penalty is interesting in itself, given they were side-by-side through what is generally a single-file part of the track.

Despite both drivers playing a part in the scenario, Baird was comfortable that it was Golding that was mostly to blame, given Wood had left him room on the inside of Turn 4.

“I don’t feel that [Golding] made the rotation to the corner,” said Baird.

“He had a slide, then made contact on the outside of the corner breaking the steering on both cars.

“He had a slight overlap, so all he had to do was stay there, Wood wouldn’t have been able to turn in on him, and he would have had the inside line into Turn 4. But he chose to try and pass him.

“Everything up until that point was fine. Wood squeezed him a little bit, but that’s what you do. There was always just a car’s width.

“Predominately it was Golding who was more to blame, because on the entry to Turn 4, Golding is only slightly overlapping, and then he tries to completely pass him, gets too deep and can’t turn. He drops a rear and there’s contact.”