WHY SVG DIDN’T CROSS THE LINE FIRST
By Dan McCarthy
Date posted: 10 July 2022
Shane van Gisbergen elected not to overtake Anton De Pasquale at the end of the race in the hope that the Dick Johnson Racing driver would be penalised more than one position.
Shane van Gisbergen had controlled much of the 88-lap Supercars Championship contest in Townsville however on the Supersoft tyre it was De Pasquale who was a lot faster.
The DJR driver closed onto the tail of van Gisbergen in the closing lap and made a lunge up the inside at the final turn.
Contact was made and van Gisbergen spun, de Pasquale immediately pulled over to the side to allow SVG back by, however the Triple Eight driver elected not to.
The reigning champion drove up behind De Pasquale and followed him across the line.
Van Gisbergen admitted post-race, he hoped this would give De Pasquale a time penalty and further demote him more places.
When first asked why he didn’t move back ahead of De Pasquale he said “Don’t know.”
Upon further prodding SVG said he thought De Pasquale might get a harsher penalty if he crossed the line first.
“Yeah, I probably thought that at the time,” he confessed in the media press conference attended by AUTO ACTION.
De Pasquale did receive a 5s penalty, however held onto second by just 1.5s from Cam Waters.
De Pasquale took blame for the incident, but he felt it was on until he locked the brakes.
“As soon as I sort of turned in, halfway through it I just locked the front-left and then ran into his rear door,” De Pasquale recalled.
“At that point you can’t back out of it, but I tried to not sort of stick with it and then just redress across the line back to where we were. That’s how it played out anyway, the guys upstairs (the stewards) worked it out.”
When asked if he was content with the penalty, De Pasquale said.
“Yeah, I don’t think there was another option, obviously I didn’t deserve the win, I was in second before the corner, and I’m second now.”
He was asked if he felt SVG should have received any infringement for not accepting the place back, De Pasquale explained the correct penalty was handed out.
“I don’t think so,” he said honestly. “Obviously, I spun him and he was leading the race so he deserved to win.
“I tried giving him the position back, if he doesn’t want to take it that’s on him, but I’m not going to start inventing rules. The results as we sit here is sort of what it deserves to be after today’s race so yeah, it all worked out.
Post-race SVG refused to shake De Pasquale’s hand, however the two settled their differences soon after having a chat before the podium, but why did ne not shake De Pasquale’s hand?
“I was angry at the time and I wanted to celebrate with my guys,” SVG explained. “Then after I saw him I said, I don’t mind that he had a go, I’m angry I got spun out.
“I’m happy we’re having a battle and I’ve got no problem with that.
It’s pretty obvious that he mucked up watching the onboard, he locked the left-front straight away and missiled into me, but as I said, he probably doesn’t feel bad because he had a go and I’ve got nothing wrong with that.”
For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the current issue of Auto Action.
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