GRM investigating cause of Golding fire

James Golding shortly before the fire struck in Race 6
Garry Rogers Motorsport is yet to determine the cause of a fire that broke out on James Golding’s Commodore that forced him out of Race 6 at Albert Park.
Smoke from the rear and front left of the #34 Holden emerged before then filling the cabin in the closing stages of Sunday’s 13 lap race.
GRM’s new recruit pulled over on the exit of Turn 2 to retire the car which caused a Safety Car period.
The Melbourne squad have since investigated the issue but are yet to understand exactly what happened to spark the fire.
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A loose brake line was initially thought to have been the cause but the team now suspects a damaged fuel line may be the culprit.
The squad has continued its investigations today back at the workshop.
“We have been pulling the back out of it today,” team director Barry Rogers told Speedcafe.com.
“Our initial thought was that it might have been brake fluid line that had come loose but we are not sure at this stage.”
It proved to be an eventful weekend for the GRM squad after two of its crew required a visit to the circuit’s medical centre on Saturday night after being struck by Garth Tander’s car in pit lane.
The incident occurred when a slick shod Tander entered a sodden pit lane to switch to wet tyres on lap 19 of the twilight feature race.
Tander slid into his right rear tyre changer and air spike operator as he attempted to slow the car on the slippery concrete pit apron.
Luckily the team members affected only suffered bruising and are now back working in the team’s workshop.
“They are all good and back in the workshop,” Rogers added.
“We were very fortunate that it wasn’t a lot worse. It is a huge positive that nobody suffered any broken bones.”
Tander scored the outfit’s best result of the weekend with an eighth in Race 3, while a 17th place in Race 4 was the best Golding delivered.
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