» Supercars: Whincup stripped of second

Jamie Whincup has been stripped of his second-place finish at the opening race of the Phillip Island 500 Supercars round after being hit with a post-race penalty.

The Red Bull Holden Racing driver finished just 0.8 seconds behind race-winner Scott McLaughlin, being passed late in the 57-lap race by the DJR Team Penske driver after an exciting race-long scrap for the lead.

The defending series champion, however, was later found to have released his pit lane speed limiter too early as he exited the pits. The race stewards hit him with the equivalent of a drive-through penalty, adding 38 seconds to his race finish time which demoted him to a fourteenth-placed finish.

There is no suggestion in the stewards’ report that Whincup was actually speeding in the pit lane, however Supercars Championship rules stipulate that the pit lane speed limited must be active at all times when a car is in the pit lane.

Whincup’s penalty promotes Nissan Motorsport’s Rick Kelly to second place, with Whincup’s teammate Shane van Gisbergen completing to the podium.

The penalty is even more damaging to Whincup’s position in the Drivers’ Championship standings. Finishing second to McLaughlin saw Whincup trail the New Zealander in the title race by just 1 point, but his demotion to fourteenth means he slips to fourth on the points table, a full 76 points behind.

In other news the stewards also handed a 15-second post race time penalty to Nissan Motorsport driver Simona de Silvestro. The Swiss driver was hit with a careless driving penalty for punting Jack Le Brocq’s TEKNO Holden into a spin at MG Hairpin on Lap 4.

Ironically she herself would be the victim of a similar divebomb by Garry Rogers Motorsport driver James Golding a few laps later which tipped her into a spin. She crossed the finish line in 23rd place, with the post-race penalty demoting her to 24th.

2018 Australian Supercars Phillip Island 500 – Race 9 Final Classification (57 laps)
Pos	Driver	Team / Entry	Result
1.	Scott McLaughlin	Shell V-Power Racing Team	1:30:50.568
2.	Rick Kelly	Castrol Racing	+ 2.404
3.	Shane van Gisbergen	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	+ 9.084
4.	Craig Lowndes	Autobarn Lowndes Racing	+ 12.283
5.	Chaz Mostert	Supercheap Auto Racing	+ 13.557
6.	David Reynolds	Erebus Penrite Racing	+ 18.333
7.	Anton de Pasquale	Erebus Thermosphere Racing	+ 18.854
8.	Will Davison	Milwaukee Racing	+ 31.539
9.	Scott Pye	Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing	+ 32.344
10.	Tim Slade	Freightliner Racing	+ 32.492
11.	Garth Tander	Wilson Security Racing GRM	+ 33.602
12.	Fabian Coulthard	Shell V-Power Racing Team	+ 33.946
13.	Mark Winterbottom	The Bottle-O Racing Team	+ 34.454
14.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	+ 38.896
15.	Andre Heimgartner	Plus Fitness Racing	+ 39.800
16.	Cameron Waters	Monster Energy Racing	+ 44.929
17.	James Courtney	Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing	+ 45.403
18.	Michael Caruso	Drive Racing	+ 45.855
19.	Richie Stanaway	MEGA Racing	+ 53.351
20.	Jack Le Brocq	TEKNO Autosport	+ 54.894
21.	Tim Blanchard	Team CoolDrive	+1:12.600
22.	Lee Holdsworth	Preston Hire Racing	+ 1:13.471
23.	Todd Hazelwood	Bigmate Racing	+ 1:28.866
24.	Simona de Silvestro	Team Harvey Norman	+ 1:39.181
25.	James Golding	Wilson Security Racing GRM	+ 7 laps
26.	Nick Percat	Coregas Racing	+ 12 laps