Erebus boss fined over post-race comments

Erebus Motorsport CEO Barry Ryan has been fined over an expletive-laden post-race television interview in Sydney.

Brown was interviewed Saturday night’s thrilling Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight race, won by his driver, Brodie Kostecki.

His other driver, Will Brown, was implicated in a final-lap clash with Shane van Gisbergen over effective third, given Cam Waters was carrying a five-second time penalty.

Van Gisbergen tapped the rear of Brown’s #9 Coca-Cola Camaro at Turn 8 and cleared the Erebus driver through Turn 9.

Race Control later penalised van Gisbergen over the incident, handing third back to Brown.

Unaware of the penalty, Ryan claimed his team was going to protest the incident, repeatedly swearing before saying his team is “sick” of van Gisbergen’s actions.

It comes after Erebus unsuccessfully protested the result of Race 7 in Perth, where van Gisbergen muscled past Kostecki for victory.

After Race 18 on Saturday night, a Motorsport Australia stewards’ report confirmed Ryan had been fined $5000, $2500 of which is suspended.

The stewards’ report reads:

Following the Race, the Stewards summoned and heard from the Authorised Representative of Erebus Motorsport after the Authorised Representative was heard to swear repeatedly when interviewed by Supercars media in the team garage regarding an Incident which had occurred between Car 97 and Car 9 on the final lap of the Race. The interview was broadcast live on air. Following an admission to having engaged in conduct prejudicial to the Event and motorsport by so doing, the Stewards imposed a Fine of $5,000 of which $2,500 is suspended until 31 December 2023 on condition that the Authorised Representative engage in an activity of service to the motorsport community to be determined by the CEO of Motorsport Australia and on the further condition that no further breach of a similar nature is committed by a representative of the Competitor before that date.

Kostecki will carry a 14-point lead over Brown into Sunday's race, with Broc Feeney and Shane van Gisbergen 97 and 114 points down.

Erebus extended its teams' championship lead over Triple Eight from 91 to 197 points.

Supercars will return to Sydney Motorsport Park for Race 19 qualifying at 12:35pm local time/AEST.