Winterbottom: Brown clash 'not intentional'

Mark Winterbottom maintains his collision with Will Brown wasn't intentional, with the latter crashing out of Race 28.

Winterbottom and Brown collided towards the end of the opening lap at Pukekohe.

The contact, at Turn 10, sent Brown into the barriers at pit exit.

The race was suspended as officials repaired the dislodged concrete barriers.

Winterbottom was later hit with a drive-through penalty over the incident.

The Brown impact was recorded at 56g, with the driver later seen in the Erebus garage.

Brown's car was too damaged to be repaired for the finale, and Erebus could be forced to revert to the team's spare chassis.

That could have implications on Bathurst, given the chassis is set to be used for the Greg Murphy/Richie Stanaway wildcard.

Speaking after the race, Winterbottom said the end result was undesirable, but suggested there was prior contact.

"It looks bad, it always looks bad when someone ends up like that," Winterbottom said.

"Unfortunately with the footage, it doesn't show... the concertina going on to get there.

"We were going two wide, obviously you feel like there's more room there.

"His front wheel hit my back and lifted... it's a bad visual to watch.

"It's always hindsight. Unfortunately for him, I can see why he'd be angry and disappointed.

"I'll cop it, glad he's okay, that's the main thing."

The incident came just hours after Winterbottom's new Team 18 deal was announced.

Winterbottom and Brown were later shown on the broadcast speaking over the incident.

Erebus Team Principal Barry Ryan shoved Winterbottom as the two drivers recounted the incident.

"There were a few of them in pit lane carrying on a bit," Winterbottom added.

"Nothing's intentional in this sport... we race hard.

"It doesn't show getting drilled by him at the hairpin or  Turn 6, it shows the aftermath, that's what looks bad."

The curtain will fall on Supercars at Pukekohe with Race 29 at 4:10pm local time/2:10pm AEST.