After two chaotic Australia Supercars Championship rounds in Darwin, we take a look at the highly debated penalty system within the series and what led to some of the decisions that were made, and the rule change leading into the second weekend.
Driving infringements
Across the two weekends, there were also a numerous driving incidents with a number of them resulting in penalties.
Many of them were bump and run style incidents that earnt a 15-second penalty added to their time at the end of the race, while some earned 5-seconds instead.
The difference generally comes down to the severity of the incident.
If the other car loses a number of positions that is a more severe penalty, than if there had been more minor contact.
Shane Van Gisbergen copped a 15-second penalty for contact with Nick Percat sending him into teammate Todd Hazelwood, forcing Percat to retire from the race.
A few laps later Rick Kelly got a penalty for an incident that saw him and Jack Le Brocq run off the road before he re-joined making contact with Jake Kostecki, sending him off the road into a tyre barrier.
In the second round, Chaz Mostert also received a 15-second penalty for turn 1 contact with Nick Percat, that sent him into the grass losing a number of spots.
Fabian Coulthard was one of the few to receive a 5-second penalty after he made contact in the final corner with Bryce Fullwood, that saw him run wide letting Coulthard past, as well as the two cars behind them.
Which brings us to the most talked about from both weekends.
Pit lane infringements
The first weekend in Darwin saw two pit lane incidents for Jamie Whincup.
The first came during the first race of the weekend under safety car, as Whincup was released from the stop into the side of eventual race winner Anton De Pasquale.
Team manager and car controller Mar Dutton, accepted blame for the incident, admitting he hadn’t seen De Pasquale.
The incident resulted in 15-second time penalty dropping him from third to 17th in the field.
The second incident for Whincup came in the final race of the weekend as Coulthard was attempting to enter his pit as Whincup was exiting his.
Coulthard was forced to further slow his car to avoid serious contact between the pair, a move that ultimately saw him lose a spot to Mostert on track, costing him the round win.
The incident was reviewed after the race, but it was determined that it did not breach the pit release rules.
What made the difference between the two incidents? The wording of the pit release rule.
7.2. A Car being released from its Pit Bay must give way to a Car already wholly in the fast lane.
As Coulthard was not wholly in the fast lane when the incident occurred and there was no significant contact, there was no breach of the rules, meaning no penalty.
De Pasquale had already completed his stop, and was wholly in the fast lane when the contact occurred.
Though there was no penalty given, it did spark a number of debates, many questioning the safety of an incident like this.
Less than a week later it was announced the rule would now state “A car being released from its pit bay must do so without impeding any other car in pit lane”.
Let’s see what happens at the double header in Townsville!
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