By Ed Jackson
October 26th 2009 @ 8:14am
Farcical start last thing Super GP needed
It was the last thing the Super GP event on the Gold Coast needed. Already reeling after the debacle surrounding the A1 GP series’ withdrawal last week, the start to the event’s fourth and final 150km V8 Supercars race on Sunday turned into farce following the first turn.
Ford’s Craig Lowndes ploughed into the back of Holden veteran Russell Ingall’s Commodore going into the first chicane, after a slow start had seen the TeamVodafone driver fall from pole position to third place.
Ingall’s car was terminally damaged but Lowndes was given a reprieve as marshalls forced the drivers to reassemble behind the safety car in the order they lined up on the grid.
It meant early pace-setter Mark Winterbottom had to relinquish his lead, while the 10 places championship contender Jamie Whincup made up from the chaos at the first bend was erased.
The farcical scenes then deepened as Lowndes was issued a belated drive-through penalty for the Ingall run-in, forcing him to the rear of the field.
Understandably, Ingall was fuming after the incident, which saw him start the race at the back of the field before a damaged radiator forced him to retire.
“We got penalised twice – first by Lowndes, then when everyone else got their grid positions back except us,” Ingall said.
“I’m not sure where the theory came from for that, we could have easily slotted back into our original slot. I think a few people, drivers and officials, need to take a good look at themselves after this one.”
Winterbottom held on to win the race but admitted confusion over the unusual restart.
“Absolutely no idea how Lowndes got back in front, I don’t know what happened,” the Ford Performance Racing driver told reporters.
“When you start off the line and beat him off the line, safety car comes out to put him back in front – absolutely no idea.”
Holden Racing Team driver Garth Tander, who was one of the men tussling with Lowndes at the race start, refuted claims the restart format had been discussed at a drivers’ briefing earlier in the week.
“He had the world’s worst start and Russell and I were either side of him and then he carved me up, ran in front of my car, bounced into Russell, caused a drama, shortcut the chicane and they tell the safety car to put him back in front of the field,” Tander said.
“That was never mentioned at all in the drivers’ briefing.”
Sprint Gas Racing’s co-owner Kevin Murphy said the start had been disappointing for all concerned.
“In the rules you can red flag and start the race again but to do it the way it was done is ludicrous,” Murphy told AAP.
“Very, very strange. And I reckon, just personally, the car that actually caused that did get a drive-through, but the guy that got knocked around was sent to the back of the field.
“It didn’t make a lot of logic, the whole thing … but that’s only one of many strange decisions over the weekend.”
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