Colin White was driving the GT4 in question, the Nineteen Corp Ginetta, and attempted, at least initially, to stay on drivers’ left while the front-running GT3 entries pass him on the climb from Griffins Bend.
Replays, however, suggested he drifted towards the middle of the track just as third-placed Weerts arrived on the scene in the pole-sitting car.
On the other hand, the 23-year-old was attempting to make a pass at ‘the rockface’, which is ordinarily barely more than one line.
Neither entry was issued a penalty, but Weerts put his hand up for his part in the spectacular incident.
“The start of the race went according to plan,” he said. “We were always in the mix to fight for the lead.
“Then unfortunately I had a contact with a lapped car, and it was quite unlucky to get traffic at that exact post.
“There are different philosophies. Looking back at it now, I would have waited a bit longer, but we are racers, when we see a gap, we go for it!
“I still don’t have a lot of experience at Bathurst and I’m not the first one it happened to.
“I will not try to overtake on the outside there when I come back here.
“Looking back at the situation, I can only say that it is very unfortunate for our car.
“I feel sorry for my team-mates, my team and BMW.
“But also, for myself because it is not the goal, after such good work from everybody.”
Co-driver Dries Vanthoor commented, “The most important thing is that Charles is okay.
“Let’s analyse everything and make sure we don’t put us in this situation again.”
While the sister #46 BMW M4 GT3 did make the chequered flag after 12 hours of racing during which rain caused havoc, fifth still was a bitter pill to swallow for the white WRT car.
Maxime Martin sat fourth for the final restart, with 30 minutes remaining, and looked set to steal the final podium place when Porsche driver Jaxon Evans lost momentum after attacking the Mercedes-AMG of Jules Gounon on Lap 270 of an eventual 275.
Instead, though, Martin was held wide at Murray’s Corner and dropped a spot.
WRT Team Principal Vincent Vosse said, “We started with a pole position which was a good thing. The rest is, of course, difficult to swallow.
“We did a few mistakes like the others but we had two strong cars and two strong line-ups.
“So, finishing fifth, it is not what we were hoping for, even more when you see that within the last 10 minutes of the race, we were fighting for P2.
“Let’s analyse to see where we lost it. We usually say that Bathurst is not a race that you win, but a race that you lose, this is exactly what happened today.”
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