Sandown 500: Supercars series leader Scott McLaughlin hit with grid penalty for Bathurst infraction
Scott McLaughlin’s Bathurst victory last month continues to come at a high price with the Supercars champion-in-waiting set to start from the back of the grid in this afternoon’s Sandown 500.
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Scott McLaughlin’s controversial Bathurst 1000 win has been further tarnished by a bombshell penalty that was delivered on the eve of the Sandown 500.
Casting further doubt on his greatest ever race win after his team was found guilty of issuing a team order during the Bathurst 1000, DJR Team Penske were slapped with another penalty for using an illegal engine.
Following a top-secret hearing a Sandown on Saturday night, McLaughlin was stripped of his Mount Panorama top-ten shoot out win and his qualifying victory while DJR/Team Penske were fined $30,000.
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In a move that will divide the sport, McLaughlin was allowed to keep his race win because the faulty engine was not used during his 1000km victory.
CAMS stewards on Sunday released their decision after an investigation into an engine used by car No.17 at the Bathurst 1000 last month, finding the team guilty of a technical breach.
After technical personnel examined the car after the race, stewards found the engine used in the practice sessions, qualifying and in the top-10 shootout - and then replaced before the race warm-up - had breached guidelines.
Stewards found the “valve lift in a number of cylinders was found to have exceeded the maximum permitted valve lift prescribed by the (engine specification document) for Car #17”.
McLaughlin has been disqualified from qualifying and the top-10 Shootout for the Bathurst 1000, but his victory with Alex Premat in the Great Race still stands.
His lap-record from the top-10 shootout, however, will not stand.
McLaughlin’s victory at Mount Panorama was already claimed under controversial circumstances after the team was hit with a record-breaking $250,000 fine and loss of 300 team points for issuing an illegal team order to McLaughlin’s teammate Fabian Coulthard during the race.
The team was found guilty of ordering Coulthard to “go slow’” in a move that allowed McLaughlin to extend his lead.
DJR Team Penske said in a statement that there had been no intention from the team to “circumvent the rules”.
“The engines used for the Bathurst 1000 race, in both Car #17 and Car #12, have passed all post-race inspections,” the statement said.
“The engine in question experienced a mechanical problem during practice and qualifying. Following the Top Ten Shootout, we were granted permission by the Head of Motorsport to change the engine prior to the race.
“The steward’s report confirmed that there was clearly no intent from our team to circumvent the rules and there was no evidence that we benefited from any performance advantage as the engine passed the Supercars power tests on their dynamometer post-event, returning results that did not exceed the Accumulated Power Number nor the Engine Power Weighted Average Number.
“As the lift now measures a few thousandths of an inch high on a few valves, we can only conclude that either the engine wasn’t measured properly when it was initially assembled or the damage that occurred in the engine contributed to a change to the maximum valve lift in the forward cylinders.
“We apologise to Scott, Alex, our partners and our supporters, and we will continue to focus on winning our second consecutive Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.”
Being forced to start from the back of the grid will impact McLaughlin’s bid to wrap up his second Supercars championship with a round to spare.
He had qualified fifth for the Sandown 500.