Shane van Gisbergen has been cleared of an allegation raised by Erebus Motorsport that he drove “dangerously slowly” during Race 13 at Supercars’ Betr Darwin Triple Crown.
The incident occurred on the 35th and final lap of the race, when van Gisbergen was running sixth, behind Brad Jones Racing’s Bryce Fullwood and ahead of Erebus’s Will Brown.
The stewards report explains, “A post-race investigation was also conducted by DRD at the request of Erebus Motorsport into an allegation that Car 97 [van Gisbergen] had been driven dangerously slowly between Turns 6 and 12 on Lap 35.
“A review of broadcast footage and judicial camera footage from Car 97 showed that the gap between Car 97 and the car ahead, Car 14 [Fullwood], progressively increased in this section of the circuit and Car 97 had reduced speed but there was no evidence that Car 97 had been travelling at such a slow speed or erratically such as to present a danger to other Cars.
“Therefore, no breach of the Rules could be established.”
It was not the first time that van Gisbergen had held up Brown at Turn 6 during the race, having been slow off that hairpin on a Lap 18 restart.
The Triple Eight Race Engineering driver has attacked the other Erebus car of Brodie Kostecki when the race went green again, but then had to go defensive to Brown and claimed over the radio that his “rear wheels were off the ground” due to contact from behind.
No punishments were dished out either over a Team 18 wheel which was sent flying during a chaotic round of pit stops when the whole field, bar the burning Cameron Waters Mustang, piled into the lane under the first Safety Car period of the race.
“The DRD also conducted an investigation at the request of Erebus Motorsport into an Incident in the pit lane when Car 14, Bryce Fullwood, made contact with a wheel in the working lane adjacent to the Team 18 pit box,” reported stewards.
“As a result of that contact, the wheel rolled across the fast lane and Car 9, Will Brown, had to take evasive action to avoid hitting it.
“A review of pit boom footage showed that the wheel was within the control of Team 18 personnel and hence no breach of the Rules could be established.”
Tickford Racing’s Thomas Randle was, however, pinged five seconds post-race for a breach of driving standard when he nudged Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Nick Percat wide.
Randle thus drops from 17th at the chequered flag to 21st in the final classification.
“Following a post-race DRD Investigation and an admission by the Driver of Car 55, Thomas Randle, the Stewards imposed a 5 second post-race Time Penalty on Car 55 for a careless driving breach regarding an Incident on Lap 11 when Car 55 made contact with the rear of Car 2, Nick Percat, at Turn 14 as a result of which Car 2 left the edge of the track and lost positions,” advised stewards.
In a further post-race investigation, Matt Stone Racing’s Cameron Hill was cleared over contact as he attempted to pass Matt Payne at Turn 1 on Lap 25.
Among matters decided in-race, an explanation was given as to the messy first Safety Car restart, when the field bottled up exiting Turn 14 as race leader Mark Winterbottom drove away.
“An allegation by Triple Eight Race Engineering that Car 18 had accelerated on the Safety Car restart before the green flag was displayed,” noted stewards.
“Broadcast footage showed that the flag marshall at the exit of turn 14 was slow withdrawing the yellow flag but the green flag was displayed at the start line.”
There was also an eye-catching note concerning another matter decided in-race which involved two of the Brad Jones Racing entries.
“An Incident involving contact between Car 4 and Car 96 at Turn 3 on Lap 1 as a result of which Car 4 left the edge of the track and lost positions which was the subject of a Request for Investigation by Brad Jones Racing,” it read.
“Broadcast footage revealed the Incident to be an example of Lap 1 contact within a close group of Cars with there being no evidence that any Driver had been wholly or predominantly to blame.”
As it turns out, the requested for investigation concerned what part another car, understood to be from Tickford, played in triggering the contact between the two BJR entries, as opposed to an intra-team allegation.
Qualifying for Race 14 of the season starts tomorrow at 09:30 local time/10:00 AEST.
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