My thoughts about the Bathurst Go Slow Incident.
So, as many people know by now, during the lap 133 caution for the International duo of Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe in the #27 NAPA Auto Parts Holden in the sand at the final corner, the Engineer of Fabian Coulthard and Tony D'Alberto in the #12 Shell V-Power Ford to slow down, claiming that they didn't know where the caution was.
Now to be clear, the incident had happened at the final corner, and the drivers enter the pit-lane at Bathurst before then. As a result, while Scott McLaughlin in the #17 Shell V-Power Ford and Jamie Whincup in the #88 Red Bull Holden continued at some speed, while car #12 slowed significantly, and in the time between Forest Elbow to Pit Entry, increased the gap between cars #17 and #12 from a few seconds to over 40.
As a result, several teams were affected. Red Bul Holden Racing Team were both disadvantaged and benefited from it, while teams such as Erebus with David Reynolds and Luke Youlden in the #9 Penrite Oils Holden, and James Courtney and Jack Perkins in the #22 Appliances Online/Mobil 1 Holden were stopped from potentially taking the lead. Meanwhile, Macauley Jones and Dean Canto in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden, as well as Simona De Silvestro and Alex Rullo in the #78 Harvey Norman Nissan, were prevented from likely getting back on the lead lap.
As a result, Fabian Coulthard was hit with a drive-through penalty for breaching Safety Car procedure. That, however, was not the end of the story.
Because, when Ryan Story was interviewed, and more specifically when he was asked if the plan to have Fabian Coulthard slow was part of a plan, he replied "I wouldn't go so far as that"
Fabian then tried to clear his name by telling Supercars.com that he had adhered to an engineering directive to "take extreme caution, the engine is hot"
The outcome will not be decided until the Gold Coast, to allow time for DJR Team Penske to build a case to defend their actions.
The specific rule that is the subject of this protest is D24.1, states that “Team Orders 24.1.1 Means an instruction to a Driver or Team member, either verbal or otherwise the effect of which may interfere with a race result."
No findings have yet been made, we'll have to wait until the next round to find out what punishments, if any, will be handed out. And as a result, the race 25 results remain provisional.
So, has this happened before? Yes. Has it happened to this extreme of (likely) impact? No.
The two examples that have been cited are Red Bull Holden's move in 2015 to let Shane Van Gisbergen past Jamie Whincup to advantage SVG. This one, however, only affected the drivers involved, and nobody else.
The other major notable time something like this happened was 2012 at Philip Island, where Mark Winterbottom, then in the #5 Orrcon Steel Ford slowed down a lot in the pit-lane during a Safety Car so he wouldn't have to double stack as long behind Will Davison in the #6TradingPost.com.au/MyFord Finance Ford, this also granting an advantage to Davison, as well as cause problems in the pit-lane as a result.
So, is there any ground for additional penalties to be levied? Well, there are a few things that can be done. As to how likely this is going to happen.
#1: Team Fine
This is probably going to be the most likely penalty for the team, to get a big fine.
#2: Team Points Penalty
This is the other major penalty that may be happening, is a points penalty for the team, as a punishment.
#3: Ryan Story specific penalty
Another penalty that could be done is Ryan Story himself getting sanctioned, and this would probably be the penalty I'd go for personally if we wanted to take any penalties further.
#4: Penalise/Disqualify Fabian Coulthard
This is unlikely, but it could be possible that Fabian Coulthard himself could get a penalty or even a disqualification. I don't think that Fabian Coulthard will be getting any additional penalties.
#5: Strip McLaughlin of his win.
I don't think this will happen, as they wouldn't be able to give it to Jamie Whincup since he also raced ahead as McLaughlin did.
So, team fine and points penalty, and maybe Ryan Story getting sanctioned are the most likely penalties to be dished out, but, as I suspect, not much will be done.
But we will find out at the Gold Coast event, so stay tuned.
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