SUPERCARS driving standards advisor Craig Baird has had his say on the James Golding flick-spin which resulted in Scott Pye crashing out of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 finale.
Pye blasted Golding as “the dumbest driver I have raced against in 20 years” and wound up exchanging words with Baird via social media after the PremiAir Racing driver went unpunished.
Baird has now formally explained his stance, doubling down that Pye did not sufficiently slow for yellow flags, and crucially outlining why Golding was innocent.
“He (Golding) didn’t re-join the track – that’s the key element,” Baird said on V8 Sleuth’s all-new Race Control podcast.
“He was trying to get himself out of a difficult situation. He was parked dead centre of the track, so he was trying to leave the zone, not re-enter the zone.”
Baird elaborated: “If people are doing my job, what’s the breach? What breach did Golding do?
“There’s nothing in the rulebook that doesn’t allow someone to recover from that situation he was in.
DRAMA!
— Supercars (@supercars) October 29, 2023
Wild contact between Golding and Pye has triggered a late race bp ultimate Safety Car! Follow every moment of the @BoostAus Gold Coast 500 LIVE in RaceHQ: https://t.co/dwVWgm3Rku #RepcoSC #Supercars pic.twitter.com/hmW2uURZKx
“Very different if he was re-joining the track, he has got to do so safely, but he was already in a dangerous position, hence the yellow. So he didn’t really breach a rule.”
Moreover, he indicated the presence of local yellows should have allowed Golding the opportunity to flick-spin and declared that Will Brown, who was one position ahead of Pye at the time, had spotted the marshal’s flags.
“Without sort of muddying the waters, I don’t think he (Golding) had a lot of options,” said Baird.
“It was an unfortunate situation that could have been avoided had the yellow been obeyed.”
