SUPERCARS champion Russell Ingall has jumped to Zane Goddard’s defence in the fallout of a costly error in the Repco Bathurst 1000.
Goddard was slapped with a $10,000 fine for triggering a Lap 5 incident that took himself/James Courtney, Andre Heimgartner/Dale Wood and David Reynolds/Matt Campbell out of the Great Race.
Criticism has flowed the Tickford Racing youngster’s way, sparking Ingall to fire up on social media.
“I’ve decided to weigh in on the Zane Goddard incident at the Bathurst 1000 on the weekend as I am pretty disgusted by some of the comments I have been reading and hearing about from online platforms as well as from some people within the sport,” Ingall wrote.
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“I’ve known Zane for some time and I’ve personally seen his work ethic, passion and how hard he works to try and be successful in motorsport.
“He is taking what happened on the weekend very hard and getting smashed up by keyboard warriors is just not on.
“Everyone is an “Eddie the Expert”, especially the ones that haven’t sat their fat arses in a race car, and more importantly, a few people in influential positions in motorsport that commented on the incident without knowing the facts.
“Yes, it was a mistake. Did he do it deliberately? No! Was it an ambitious move, I don’t think so.
“In hindsight, maybe he could have waited a few more laps, but if an opportunity is there, you have to have a go. That’s why they call it racing. In any other situation he would have gone off-line, went through the grass, and rejoined easily.
“For certain individuals to say as the incident was happening he accelerated through, without seeing any data or evidence, really threw Zane under the bus and ignited opinions – unfortunately one-sided.
“Do you really think, once the car was aquaplaning, which it was, grabbing throttle or brake would have made any difference!
“Have a look at 2016 Bathurst – even Scotty was struggling to pull it up and that was in the dry! Pretty well same place, same line.”
Ingall, who competed in the 2021 edition of the Great Race, also noted the tough ask for co-drivers to be thrown in the deep end on the sport’s biggest stage with relatively minimal preparation.
“I feel sorry for these young kids that aren’t racing full time, that get thrown straight in at the deep end now there is no lead up endurance event like Sandown, where they could get their eye in,” he continued.
“Imagine the pressure of going into the biggest race of the year, with very few laps, basically cold, AND starting the race. Big Ask!
“Throw in seriously tricky conditions on and off the race track over the weekend.
“And don’t forget, as I found out last year, these cars are massively difficult to drive compared to previous years as they are basically a concrete filled block with wings and are consistently on a knife’s edge.”
After one-and-a-half seasons at Matt Stone Racing, Goddard was an unlucky omission from the 2022 full-time grid.
He has spent this year completing Gen3 testing and demonstration laps, and had a brief stint in S5000.
Goddard was a leading contender to replace Tim Slade at the Blanchard Racing Team next year, only for MSR incumbent Todd Hazelwood to get the nod.
