Triple Eight’s request to amend appeal over Bathurst penalty rejected

The Supercars Court of Appeal has rejected Triple Eight Race Engineering’s request to amend their appeal over Jamie Whincup’s penalty in the 2016 Bathurst 1000 race, meaning that the victory of Tekno Autosports driver Will Davison is effectively confirmed.

“The interim application requested that the ground for appeal be extended to include: a) that there was an error in the application and interpretation of the rules by the stewards; and b) that natural justice was denied by the stewards,” read the CAMS statement.

“At 12:30 AEDT today the court denied the application from the team. The reasons for the denied application will be released at a later stage. Triple Eight have been granted an extension to file their original Notice of Appeal to 17:55 AEDT today.”

Triple Eight Race Engineering tried to change their appeal from not just challenge the scale of the penalty but for the penalty to be applied at all.

“Immediately following Sunday’s race, Triple Eight appealed the severity of the 15 second penalty handed to Car 88 as a result of Jamie Whincup’s failed pass on Car 33 of Scott McLaughlin,” read a statement from the Supercars organisation.

“On these grounds the appeal could only seek to downgrade the penalty from a grade two to a grade one which carries a 10 second penalty and could not have the incident re-investigated or the charge dropped. Subsequently, Triple Eight applied to the Court to amend its appeal to instead claim that the failed pass was not a breach of the driving standards at all, despite numerous prior admissions by Triple Eight that the failed pass was a breach.”

Triple Eight can continue with their original appeal, but the only outcome would be alter the severity of the penalty which was 15 seconds added to Whincup’s race time, which could at best become a 10-second penalty, which would still mean Tekno Autosports would win the race.

“Supercars Australia respects the right of all teams to appeal the decisions of stewards,” said CEO James Warburton. “However it also recognises the groundswell of opinion from teams, drivers and fans who have expressed a strong desire to see one of Australia’s biggest sporting events decided on the race track and not in a courtroom.”

Whincup was given the penalty for making contact with GRM Volvo driver Scott McLaughlin in the final stages of the race.