De Silvestro penalised over qualifying incident

Simona De Silvestro has been penalised for her role in today’s qualifying incident that saw Shane van Gisbergen narrowly avoid a major crash.

The Supercars rookie admitted to a charge of reckless driving and has been given a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow’s Race 8.

De Silvestro had been on the racing line while warming up for a hot lap at the end of the back straight.

Michael Caruso and van Gisbergen both had to take avoiding action as a result, with the former pulling up behind the Swiss and the latter opting to take to the left-side grass.

Although van Gisbergen avoided the concrete wall and rejoined, a fired up Red Bull team boss Mark Dutton later called for those responsible to be disqualified from the session.

De Silvestro had been behind team-mates Rick and Todd Kelly, who had also slowed to create a gap for their fast laps.

With the investigation not completed until after today's race, De Silvestro was left to start in her 14th place qualifying slot.

She eventually finished 23rd after struggling with the extreme tyre degradation seen on the rough Barbagallo surface.