A crash that took place in the opening race of last night's BP Supercars All Stars Eseries event at Spa-Francorchamps has fallen in favour of Erebus Motorsport driver Anton De Pasquale, resulting in Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen losing his opening race win.
The shift has handed the victory to Scott McLaughlin, with De Pasquale promoted to fourth place. The Penrite driver had crossed the line in fifth (van Gisbergen's penalty making that spot fourth), only to have incurred an in-game penalty as he crossed the line for exceeding the maximum amount of off-track excursions following the van Gisbergen shunt.
McLaughlin had originally been thought to have also been docked his finishing position due to off-track excursions of his own, but that in-game penalty was overturned separately.
De Pasquale and van Gisbergen also tangled in race three, although in that case it was the former driver's error. Photo / Getty Images
Just like the real thing, the move was investigated by Driving Standards Observer Craig Baird, who issued the final ruling earlier today.
"It was very clear that Car #99 [De Pasquale] had the opportunity to make a clean pass on the outside of Car #97 [van Gisbergen]," Baird told Supercars.com.
"At that point, Car #99 was given no racing room. When they went back to the left, Car #99 left racing room for the #97 Red Bull Holden. Car #97 had racing room on the right and chose not to use it, causing avoidable contact.
"At the time of the incident there was only one camera angle available to use for the review, we knew a penalty was most likely, but we had to review it thoroughly which we now have. Had Shane been penalised immediately after Race 15 he would’ve started in a better position in the reverse grid race."
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"The black flag Car #99 received for too many in-race penalties in Race 15 has now been overturned, as the final penalty was linked to going off circuit due to the incident with van Gisbergen.
"De Pasquale’s provisional finishing position of 19th has been reversed and he will be awarded the fourth place finishing position, with van Gisbergen awarded fifth place."
Despite the penalty, van Gisbergen retains his spot as the evening's round winner, with AU$1000 donated to his charity of choice Wings For Life.