NEITHER Matt Payne nor Cam Waters were penalised for their clash in Saturday’s Supercars race at Albert Park because they both contributed to the incident.
That’s the verdict from race officials, who have explained their decision in a post-race stewards’ bulletin.
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The two Ford Mustangs came to grief at the final corner while disputing the lead on the second lap of the race.
Payne had taken the top spot from Waters at Turn 11, and then received a nudge in the rear from the Monster Energy Mustang two corners later.
That allowed Waters to draw up on the outside of his rival, who subsequently swung across to take the racing line – carting both into the outside fence.
The stewards summary read as follows:
During the race, the DRD reviewed the available broadcast and in-car vision of an incident between Car 6 Cam Waters and Car 19 Matthew Payne in consultation with the DSA determined that Car 6 initially made contact to the rear of Car 19 causing Car 19 wide at the apex of Turn 13, with Car 6 gaining an advantage on Car 19 on the outside approaching Turn 14.
Car 19 has moved back to the traditional racing line for Turn 14 causing contact to Car 6. The Stewards have deemed that each driver (Car 6 for Turn 13 and Car 19 for Turn 14) contributed to the incident where neither driver have been classified as a Finisher in the race classifications.
The Stewards believe in this instance imposing any further Time Penalties on either driver is not warranted.
