Whincup accepts blame for clumsy inter-team collision

Jamie Whincup has shouldered the blame for the dramatic collision between he and Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Scott Pye during Practice 4 at the AirTouch 500 at The Bend.

The incident occurred on just the second lap of the session, as the field was brought under the control of a Safety Car simulation, as part of the trial of a new procedure for this weekend.

The field was released from the initial 80km/h Full Course Yellow period, with drivers free to drive at speed to a slow zone remaining from the exit of Turn 3 through to Turn 7.

It was here where the drama unfolded, as Pye slowed down to the 80km/h speed limit from racing speed, Whincup was caught unawares and took to the grass in a futile attempt to avoid the #1 Camaro. Over team radio, Whincup said: "Sorry guys, I missed the P3 board."

The right front corner of the #88 rode up over the left rear of Pye's car, ripping the rear left corner out of the car Pye shares with Will Brown, whilst there was right front damage to the car Whincup shares with Repco Sprint Cup winner Broc Feeney.

The damage for Pye was so severe that he didn't partake in the rest of the session after returning to the garage, with the Triple Eight crew changing the transaxle before Practice 5.

"Damn, there's not much worse than crashing into your teammate," admitted Whincup via Red Bull Ampol Racing's social media channels.

"We headed out there for P4, testing out the new regulations of the slow zone, and I just made a mistake. I misjudged where the [Position 3] line was.

"I was trying to go as close to Scotty as I could, to simulate what would happen in the race. In hindsight, I probably should've dropped back, but at the same time I wanted to simulate the real life situation.

"I feel shocking for the guys, my car was bent. I was able to keep going, but it wasn't nice. Scotty missed the session which was unfortunate."

Whincup, who has been a staunch supporter of changing the Safety Car procedures after the Sunday controversy in Ipswich, did offer more suggestions as to how the procedures could be further tweaked following this weekend's trial.

"I'm not here to blame anyone or anything, it was my fault. Of course, hopefully we can learn from it as a series and develop it," Whincup continued.

"Technology in the car so you don't have to actually stop at the line would be great; you've just got to do a time during that sector, the same as Formula 1 do.

"But we don't have that software at the moment, but anyway, I feel pretty bad for everybody, but I've just got to make sure I prop myself up now for tomorrow.

"To put a positive on a bad situation, I'm glad it happened in practice and not the race."

The incident is to be investigated post-session, with Practice 5 to begin at 12:00pm local time/12:30pm AEST.