TRIPLE Eight Race Engineering’s Supercars title aspirations have been dealt a blow after a post-race penalty at The Bend Motorsport Park.
Race Control announced Shane van Gisbergen’s pitstop in Race 3 of the OTR SuperSprint would be investigated after the chequered flag.
Van Gisbergen crossed the line fifth and has officially retained that position, although his team did not go unpunished.
“Following the Race, the Stewards imposed a Fine of $1,500 and a further Penalty of the Loss of 30 Teams’ Championship Points on Triple Eight Race Engineering for an Incident in the Pit Lane during the Race when Car 97 was dropped and released by the Car Controller when the wheel gun was still attached to the right rear wheel in breach of Rule D11.7.3,” read the stewards report.
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That sanction is in line with similar offences this year – i.e. pitstop infringements not involving car-to-car contact.
Such cases include Brad Jones Racing/Jack Smith (twice, at Wanneroo and Symmons Plains), the Blanchard Racing Team/Todd Hazelwood (Symmons Plains) and Tickford Racing/Declan Fraser (Sydney Motorsport Park).
Triple Eight was already 107 points behind Erebus in the teams’ championship race, but now drops to 137 adrift.
Four rounds remain, with the Sandown 500 next up on September 15-17.
