This incident made the enforcement of Supercars driving standards a talking point. Image: Fox Sports
The enforcement of driving standards in Supercars is not necessarily consistent, based on comments from podium finishers at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Shane van Gisbergen lost a podium finish in Saturday night’s Race 18 of the season after he repeatedly made nose-to-tail contact with Will Brown through Turn 8 before passing the Erebus Motorsport entry into the next corner.
He made a pointed reference to the five-second time penalty on the following afternoon when, after qualifying on pole position for Race 19, the New Zealander remarked, “Let’s see how they try and take this one off us.”
Speaking after winning that encounter, van Gisbergen was more reserved, but indicated he still felt harshly done by.
“I feel a bit like Newcastle, not wanting to say anything,” he began.
“Like, if they showed what went on – like, the five laps before with the racing and what people got away with – like, it was awesome, but a lot more than what that last corner was,” said the Triple Eight Race Engineering driver.
“But yeah, I don’t really know.”
Andre Heimgartner and Anton De Pasquale, who filled out the podium in Race 19, were also asked for their thoughts.
They too gave responses which suggested that similar incidents to that of van Gisbergen-Brown are missed by broadcast cameras and hence go unpunished.
“It’s all in context, I guess, and it just depends what standard you’re setting and what other things have been going on in the battle, and so many different things,” began Heimgartner.
“I haven’t really watched it, but it was all in context.”
De Pasquale picked up on that comment with, “Yeah, pretty much what he said.
“I guess it depends if you’re the guy to get pushed or the guy pushing.
“It depends what position you’re in and generally it determines how you feel afterwards, but it’s all in context.
“Like, if that’s what’s going on in the whole race, then that’s what’s going on to the chequered flag, that’s fine.
“But, if it’s an isolated incident, I’m not sure. I don’t see all the incidents.”
Heimgartner then added, “And you probably don’t see all the racing that goes on throughout the field.
“Quite often, you end up… You know, Chaz moves people out of the way a lot as well.
“Like, a lot of drivers do it, so it’s not just one person; it’s just that [the] camera’s on that.
“So, sometimes you screw people over, sometimes you get screwed over, so it’s just the way it is.”
Brad Jones, Heimgartner’s boss at his eponymous team but a former driver himself, said he understood van Gisbergen’s perspective.
“It’s very difficult,” Jones acknowledged.
“Every position you’re in is difficult.
“When you’re driving a car and someone’s rubbing you up, you get sick of it pretty quick, and then if you get a penalty when you do it back, it’s tough to take.
“So, I didn’t see enough of it early on – funnily enough, I was watching my own cars – but I totally get what Shane’s saying.
“You know, when someone treats you bad, you don’t always just stand around and wait for it.
“So it’s one of those things and it’s hard for the person making the call in the box to go, ‘Okay, well this started five corners back.’
“I mean, Bairdo [Driving Standards Advisor Craig Baird] does it sometimes, but it’s a difficult call.”
On the incident in question, the stewards report read, “The Stewards imposed a 5 second Time Penalty on Car 97 after Car 97 made repeated avoidable contact with the rear of Car 9 at turn 8 and gained an advantage as a result, Car 9 having been pushed off line.”
Van Gisbergen crossed the finish line fourth and Brown fifth, but the latter was elevated to third in the official classification given both the former and also Cam Waters, for a controversial unsafe release penalty, had five seconds added to their race times.
Erebus CEO Barry Ryan was in no doubt that van Gisbergen deserved sanction, telling pit reporter Chad Neylon just after cars took the chequered flag, “Shane – he can’t keep f***ing doing that, it’s bullshit.
“He hit him up the arse and he passed him – you can’t do that.
“We’re just going to make sure he gets done this time, and not let off, because we’re sick of it.”
Ryan was vindicated in his anger by the decision which was made minutes later by stewards, apparently before Erebus had a chance to request an investigation, but was pinged himself for his liberal use of profanities.
The season continues with the OTR SuperSprint at The Bend on August 18-20, with Super2 back in action in support of the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 on September 15-17.
Keyword: Supercars drivers hint at inconsistencies in stewarding