Golding demoted over Perth track limits breach

James Golding has been demoted a position in Race 7 of the Repco Supercars Championship for a breach of track limits during a final-lap battle with Bryce Fullwood.

The PremiAir Racing driver crossed the finish line in 14th but is now officially 15th in the classification given he drove around the back side of Wanneroo Raceway’s Turn 7 exit kerb and, in doing so, managed to stay ahead of the #14 Brad Jones Racing entry.

Stewards reported, “The demotion of Car 31, James Golding, from finishing position 14 to finishing position 15 for a breach of Article 3.3.2 of Schedule B2 – a Car rejoining the Race Track may only do safely and without gaining any lasting advantage – following an incident on the final Lap of the Race when Car 14, Bryce Fullwood, was overtaking Car 31 on the inside at Turn 7 and Car 31 drove around the back of the exit kerb and rejoined ahead of Car 14 and took the Chequered Flag ahead of Car 14.”

On the other hand, Declan Fraser was cleared during the race for a superficially similar incident given he had incurred contact from Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton De Pasquale which forced his Tickford Racing car wide, with “Car 11 … not far enough up alongside Car 56 to have right to the corner.”

BJR’s Andre Heimgartner also escaped a penalty, after a coming-together with Cam Waters on the pit entry road.

The R&J Batteries Camaro was behind Tickford’s Monster Energy Mustang early on in the race, with the pit window opening on Lap 5. Wanneroo Raceway’s pit entry is notorious for its position, a sharp turn-in after a long downhill run into the final corner, Turn 7.

It was here that Heimgartner was caught unawares, as Waters lifted to make the pit road – with the nose of the #8 Camaro hitting the rear end of the Mustang, sending Car #6 spinning off the track.

A post-race investigation by the stewards determined that:
“A review of in car footage from cars behind Car 6 showed that Car 6 gave no indication to cars behind that it was entering the Pit Lane notwithstanding the express warning to all Drivers by the Race Director in the Race Director’s Instructions and at the Competitors’ and Drivers’ Briefing that Drivers entering the Pit Lane should take care to attempt to warn Cars behind of their intention to enter the Pit Lane by use of an indicator or flash of brake lights. In the absence of any indication from Car 6 that it was intending to enter the Pit Lane, the Driver of Car 8 could not have anticipated that Car 6 would reduce speed at the apex.”

BJR was, however, fined $1500 and its #4/#96 team docked 30 championship points as punishment for Car #4 shedding a wheel as Jack Smith exited his pit box during Race 7.

On that, stewards reported, “A Fine in the sum of $1500 and Loss of 30 Teams Championship Points for Brad Jones Racing for a breach of Rule D 11.2.3.2 – Car Controller must ensure that the Pit Stop is carried out safely – following an incident during the Race when Car 4, Jack Smith, was dropped with its left rear wheel unsecured.”

Meanwhile, Erebus Motorsport is understood by Speedcafe to have lodged a protest after Shane van Gisbergen escaped punishment over his late-race exchange with Brodie Kostecki.

Drivers’ championship Updated

Pos	Driver	Pts
1	Brodie Kostecki	606
2	Chaz Mostert	530
3	Shane van Gisbergen	528
4	William Brown	421
5	Broc Feeney	420
6	Andre Heimgartner	414
7	David Reynolds	411
8	Cameron Waters	395
9	Jack Le Brocq	371
10	Will Davison	331
11	Thomas Randle	318
12	Tim Slade	317
13	Bryce Fullwood	317
14	Matthew Payne	315
15	James Golding	303
16	Todd Hazelwood	302
17	Mark Winterbottom	301
18	Scott Pye	290
19	Anton De Pasquale	283
20	Macauley Jones	230
21	James Courtney	225
22	Jack Smith	208
23	Declan Fraser	207
24	Cameron Hill	193
25	Nick Percat	153

Teams’ championship Updated

Pos	Num(s)			Team	Pts
1	9	99		Erebus Motorsport	1027
2	88	97		Triple Eight Race Engineering	948
3	19	26		Grove Racing	726
4	8	14		Brad Jones Racing	701
5	2	25		Walkinshaw Andretti United	683
6	5	6		Tickford Racing	620
7	23	31	(400)	PremiAir Racing	620
8	11	17		Dick Johnson Racing	614
9	(18)	20	600	Team 18	591
10	34	35		Matt Stone Racing	564
11	55	56		Tickford Racing	525
12	4	96		Brad Jones Racing	408
13	3			Blanchard Racing Team	302