Red Bull Ampol Racing Team Manager Mark Dutton admits there was a “breakdown in communication” over team orders in Race 17 of the Supercars Championship at the NTI Townsville 500.
Shane van Gisbergen was not impressed when told he would have to give back fourth position to team-mate Broc Feeney if he was unable to run down Andre Heimgartner for a podium in the closing stages.
Dutton explained on television, post-race, “We just had a little bit of a breakdown in communication.
“From the garage, we were getting ready to let them race, and then Shane was pretty happy to sit behind Broc so we told Broc, go hard, chase down P3.
“Because we pressured Broc to do that on the proviso that he was safe from behind, he’s blown his tyres off.
“Then he wasn’t safe from behind, and then we said to Shane, chase down P3 as well.
“Above all, we want the podium; if not, then the round win.”
Van Gisbergen slowed as he approached the chequered flag to let Feeney reclaimed fourth position, apparently reluctantly, then is said to have queried the matter post-race.
Dutton explained, “Obviously, he was asking what the go was.
“Obviously, some more discussion to come. We’ll debrief everything like we always do.”
Earlier, van Gisbergen had been doing his best to help his Triple Eight Race Engineering team-mate during the middle portion of the NTI Townsville 500 finale given he was strategically compromised after qualifying last and being turned around on Lap 1.
On several occasions, the 2022 champion made room for Feeney, who was effectively ahead, to follow him through when he made overtakes.
However, in the closing stages, it was the #97 Camaro which had superior speed relative to the #88 Camaro and van Gisbergen stood an outside chance to run down Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner for the final podium place.
SVG outbraked Feeney on Lap 82 of 88 at Turn 11 of the Reid Park Street Circuit but, when told, “Let’s just see if we can get Andre, otherwise we’ll have to give it back,” he was unimpressed.
“Why do I have to give it back?” he responded.
“I just passed him.”
When the voice on the other end of the radio, Race Engineer Andrew Edwards, replied, “He said he wasn’t racing; they didn’t want us to race,” there was more resistance.
“I wasn’t racing; Feeney said he was going to push,” said van Gisbergen.
“He started doing burnouts that burnt the rears off it.”
The back-and-forth continued for a number of laps, the Kiwi reiterating the point about Feeney having “no rears.”
But, as he drove towards the chequered flag, Car #97 slowed and deferred to #88 in the end.
Speaking on television just after getting out of his Camaro, Feeney said, “I didn’t really know what was going on; I just left that to the team.
“I saw him slowing down, I asked what was going on, they said he was letting me back past.
“I’m sure they’ll sort that out in debrief.”
He added, “I think we work great together as a team.
“In that second-last stint, he was making moves and then setting it up for me sort of thing, and yeah, we were following each other around.
“I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. I was just driving my car and I didn’t know if I expected that at the end; I’ve never really played these team games before.
“I’m sure they’re going to talk about it, but I’ll be in Japan next week [for GT World Challenge Asia], so probably won’t hear about it for a few weeks,” quipped Feeney.
The two reportedly shook hands after the race, with Feeney saying they are “all good”.
He gained nine points out of the overtake just before the stripe, and now sits 26 points off the championship lead in third place, with van Gisbergen retaining fourth in the standings.
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