Jamie Whincup has been fined and officially stripped of his fastest lap in Practice 1, which he set while a yellow flag was out.
However, he did so while yellows covered Nick Percat’s #8 Brad Jones Racing entry which was beached well into the gravel trap at the hairpin.
With Percat having run off with only seconds remaining prior to the chequered flag being shown, officials elected to cover the corner with a local yellow rather than throwing a red flag which would have deprived those past the scene a chance to finish their laps.
Whincup, however, had not cleared Turn 4 on what would prove to be the quickest lap of the session, a 50.7564s.
The matter was sent to a post-session investigation, of which the result is a $1000 fine and Car #88 being stripped of the lap in question for breaching Article 4.2.1.1 of Schedule B3 (single waved yellow flag, a driver must reduce speed, do not overtake, and be prepared to change direction).
James Golding was given the same fine, although not stripped of a lap, for breaking the same rule by passing cars under a yellow flag as opposed to failure to slow down in Whincup’s case.
Whincup therefore finishes Practice 1 in fourth on a 50.9578s, while Mostert’s 50.7755s is the official fastest lap.
The Triple Eight driver laughed off any possible question of a safety issue in continuing on a hot pace through the flag sector.
“Slapped on the wrist, I set my quickest time under yellow,” he commented shortly after Practice 2.
“The car that was causing the yellow was down at Hobart, so I thought I’m okay to stay up it. But anyway, there’s no safety breach.”
The loss of fastest lap in Practice 1 is, however, academic.
While Armor All Qualifying runs to the knockout system this weekend, only results from Practice 2 set the starting order for tomorrow’s three-part session, rather than combined times from Friday practice as was the case last year.
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