BigPond Grand Finale to decide V8 Supercar Championship Series: Bright back in contention
29/11/2004 19:05 (Press Release) -
Jason Bright has rejoined fellow Holden driver Greg Murphy on the V8 Supercar Championship Series contenders list going into the final round following the amendment of results from the third race at the Tasmanian Triple Challenge by the Confederation of Australian Motorsport.
The BigPond Grand Finale at Eastern Creek in Sydney from December 2-5 will now decide if Bright or Murphy can overhaul series leader and defending champion Marcos Ambrose in the final event of the 2005 V8 Supercar Championship Series.
The Tasmanian results were amended to award WPS Racing’s David Besnard the third race from PWR Performance Products’ Bright and Holden Racing Team’s Mark Skaife (see below).
As a result Bright was elevated from 18th to 8th position for the Tasmanian event at Symmons Plains Raceway, giving him an additional 36 points for the round and the championship.
It elevates him from fourth to third in the championship on 1816 points behind Kmart Racing’s Murphy, who lost six points having initially been awarded second in the third Tasmanian race, on 1825. Pirtek Racing’s Ambrose remains the championship leader on 1982 points.
Revised Series Points from the Tasmanian Triple Challenge (Top 10 – previous points in brackets):
1. Russell Ingall 164 (170)
2. Greg Muprhy 160 (166)
3. Steven Richards 152 (158)
4. Craig Lowndes 148 (154)
5. Cameron McConville 140 (146)
6. Steven Johnson 136 (142)
7. Steve Ellery 134 (140)
8. Jason Bright 126 (90)
9. Marcos Ambrose 126 (126)
10. Rick Kelly 126 (126)
Revised Championship Points (Top 10 - previous points in brackets):
1. Marcos Ambrose 1982 (1982)
2. Greg Murphy 1825 (1831)
3. Jason Bright 1816 (1780)
4. Russell Ingall 1776 (1782)
5. Rick Kelly 1701 (1701)
6. Steven Richards 1661 (1667)
7. Todd Kelly 1513 (1513)
8. Jason Bargwanna 1402 (1406)
9. John Bowe 1400 (1406)
10. Garth Tander 1320 (1320)
The full list of results, meeting points and championship points are available on the V8 Supercar Championship Series website v8supercar.com.au or on the Motorsport race timing site natsoft.com.au
CAMS V8 SUPERCAR STEWARDS DECLARE BESNARD WINNER AT SYMMONS PLAINS
CAMS V8 Supercar Stewards today released their findings over the running of Race 3 at Symmons Plains, Tasmania on 14 November 2004, declaring David Besnard the winner, followed by Jason Bright and Mark Skaife.
The Stewards determined that race officials were in fact correct in their assessment of the situation in the first instance, but after considerable pressure from numerous sources in pit lane, they corrected the "perceived error" which resulted in the wrong driver receiving the chequered flag at the conclusion of Race 3.
A Safety Car deployment after Paul Weel's crash started the chain of events leading to the doubt over the result of Race 3.
Race Director Tim Schenken deployed the Safety Car immediately after Weel's crash. Under normal circumstances, the Safety Car waits for the race leader before entering the circuit however Schenken believed that the circumstances of the Weel crash demanded that whole field needed to be slowed and controlled immediately. In this instance, the safety Car picked up the first possible car on the race track, car #51, Greg Murphy. While unusual, this type of Safety Car deployment is in compliance with the rules.
At the time that the Safety Car was deployed, there were four cars running in front of Murphy that had not completed their compulsory pit stop. Murphy and the rest of the field had completed their stops already.
The four cars (#50, Jason Bright, #23, David Besnard, #2, Mark Skaife, and #75, Anthony Tratt) made their stop and exited the pits before the Safety Car completed a lap of the circuit and reached pit lane, thus gaining a lap over the rest of the field in accordance with the rules.
Schenken instructed the Safety Car to wave other cars through and pick up the leader of the group of four, the actual race leader, David Besnard. It was at this time that the majority of teams in pit lane objected.
As a result of the objections, senior officials experienced doubts over the accuracy of the timing information and took steps to adjust what appeared to be a timing anomaly based on what teams were saying.
The stewards' investigation has since shown that the timing information was correct and that David Besnard was the race leader during the Safety Car period.
The results were established by the Stewards at the conclusion of lap 41 in accordance with the FIA procedures thus awarding car #23, David Besnard, the victory.
The CAMS Stewards made their findings after reviewing detailed timing printouts, Network 10 footage and in-car footage to ascertain what occurred at the time of the deployment of the Safety Car in Race 3 following the crash of Paul Weel.
Release Date: 21/11/2004
Bigpond Grand Finale - AVESCO
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