hero-img

De Silvestro cops penalty for Hazelwood hit

15 Jun 2019
Third Kelly Racing driver gets sanction
2 mins by James Pavey
Advertisement

Simona De Silvestro has been penalised for her early collision with Todd Hazelwood in Saturday's BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown race.

De Silvestro's Nissan nerfed Hazelwood's Holden off-track a Turn 1 on the third lap at Hidden Valley.

Hazelwood was at the head of a nine-car pack in the aftermath of contact between Andre Heimgartner and Mark Winterbottom at the final corner.

He eventually crossed the line in 19th place, three spots behind De Silvestro.

Winterbottom takes flight in early tangle

Stewards, though, handed De Silvestro a 15-second time penalty for the incident following a post-race investigation.

It demotes the Swiss driver to 19th, and gives Hazelwood 18th.

With the sanction, De Silvestro takes the tally of Kelly Racing pilots to incur the wrath of stewards on Saturday to three.

Heimgartner served a 15-second penalty for a restart infringement in-race and inherited De Silvestro's 16th.

Team owner Rick Kelly finished 21st, after serving a drive-through for contact with Tim Slade on lap two.

Only rookie Garry Jacobson escaped scrutiny on his way to a season-best of 14th.

Advertisement
Chaotic start to Hidden Valley opener

No action on first-lap melee

The incidents involving Kelly, Heimgartner and De Silvestro came amid a frenetic start to the race.

They followed an incident exiting Turn 1 on the opening lap with Jack Le Brocq, Macauley Jones and James Golding.

All three Commodores were damaged, with only Jones rejoining the race to finish 22nd and eight laps down.

A post-race investigation ultimately determined it "did not warrant any further action, as no driver was wholly or predominately to blame".

Golding, Le Brocq and Jones had started 19th, 20th and 23rd.

"I got sent wide at Turn 1, and after that, I’m not really sure what happened," Le Brocq said.

"We’ll have to sit down and have a good look at the footage.

"Sadly the damage to the left rear suspension was too bad to fix during the race.

"It’s disappointing not to get through the first lap, but I think we can come out strong tomorrow."

Related News

Advertisement