Supercars pit lane rules revised after Whincup/Coulthard incident

A week on from a near-incident in pit lane at the Darwin Triple Crown, Supercars has moved to update some of its rules regarding pit stops to add clarity in the future.

Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup nearly earned himself a penalty when he was released from his pit bay into the path of DJR Team Penske’s Fabian Coulthard, the latter turning in to his box as the former rejoined the fast lane.

Whincup was able to escape penalty thanks to the ruling dictating that a car must wholly be in the fast lane to be impeded, however Coulthard was only partially in the lane as he was beginning to turn in to his bay.

Following on from the debate caused due to the ruling, Supercars has revised the rule ahead of this weekend’s Darwin SuperSprint to say, “a Car being released from its Pit Bay must do so without impeding any other Car in Pit Lane”.

Supercars’ Head of Motorsport Adrian Burgess said that while Driving Standards Observer Craig Baird had correctly officiated based on the original ruling, teams and drivers gave no resistance when the revision was put forwards.

“We all saw what happened last week,” said Burgess.

“Craig Baird correctly adjudicated the situation by the way the rulebook was written.

“I think everyone has acknowledged it was handled correctly from that perspective, but did it pass the pub test? Probably not.

“We don’t want teams to believe they can just launch it out of the box without any care for anyone coming through the working lane.

“Craig and I had discussions about it early in the week and I tabled a solution at the Commission, where it was fully supported, including by Jamie himself.

“You can’t write the rulebook for every single eventuality, but we’ve tidied that little area up.

“That’s a process that all sports have to go through from time to time with their rules.”

Baird said he was happy that Supercars was swift in its move to revise the rule and that it now reduces the possibility of contact in the pit lane.

“I’m really pleased that Supercars has acted quickly and decisively on this matter,” Baird said.

“The number one priority is the safety of everyone in pitlane and the last thing I want to see is teams sending cars out of the pitbox into marginal situations.

“I have to work to the rulebook I’m given and it’s a weight off my shoulders that this has been changed so promptly.”

Qualifying for Race 1 of the weekend begins at 1125 local time before the opening race kicks off at 1350, running for 38 laps.