Le Brocq laments 'silly' last-lap crash

A heavy last-lap crash after a tangle with James Courtney marked a sour end to birthday boy Jack Le Brocq’s Saturday race at the Watpac Townsville 400.

Le Brocq was running 19th at the start of the 70th tour, directly behind fellow Holden drivers James Golding and James Courtney.

With Courtney and Golding battling into Turn 2, the Tekno Autosports entry had a run on both on the exit of the corner, but was then squeezed by Courtney.

Contact between the right-rear of the Walkinshaw Holden and left-front of the Tekno Commodore then sent Le Brocq hard left, bouncing off Golding before clouting the concrete wall.

Le Brocq, who turned 26 today, was left to limp his heavily-damaged Commodore home in 23rd place.

“I’m alright, it’s just a pain for the team. It was just silly. We’ve got a broken car for no real reason,” Le Brocq told Supercars.com.

“It happened so quick. I thought I gave him plenty of room and he came across on me and just kept going.

“He just overlapped a bit and set it off. It’s just silly. It was the last lap and I was trying not to take any risks.

“We just got caught up in someone else’s incident when Courtney and Golding came together at Turn 2. I didn’t want to be involved in it.”

Car to be fixed for Sunday

Tekno manager Adrian Burgess told Supercars.com the damage is significant but will be fixed at the circuit.

“The birdcage (rear subframe) has got a bit of a tweak in it, which is a bit painful, but we’ll be alright,” he said.

“The tube leading up to the damper top [on the left-front corner] has got a bit of a kink in it too, but these cars have done that type of damage a fair bit.

“Where the wheel has come back it’s flattened the tube, so it’s less than ideal, but we will have it out again for tomorrow.”

Burgess was also disappointed by the incident, but said it’s up to the officials to judge who was at fault.

“It’s a little bit unnessesary, it was the last lap of the race, but there you go,” he said.

“I don’t know if JC could have stayed a bit further left or Jack could have been a bit further right, it’s hard to see, but we’ll let the officials make a call. Our concern is fixing the car.”