Court ruling confirms Davison/Webb Bathurst 1000 victory

Immediately after the race, Triple Eight lodged an intention to appeal the 15-second penalty that cost Whincup the Bathurst 1000 victory , hoping to have it stripped back to a points penalty – which would see Whincup and Paul Dumbrell classified as the winners.

It transpired, however, that on those grounds the appeal would have only seen the severity of the time penalty reduced to 10 seconds rather than the 15 – which according to a CAMS press release led to the team trying to have the grounds of appeal changed.

That attempt has since been declared unsuccessful.

“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 1230 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 1755 AEDT today.”

Essentially, that means Triple Eight can proceed with its initial appeal and hope for the best case scenario of a 10s penalty (which would put Whincup in eighth). Or, withdraw the appeal completely.

Either way, it now seems essentially impossible for Davison and Jono Webb to have their win stripped from them.

“Supercars Australia welcomes the decision handed down by the CAMS appointed National Court of Appeal today on Triple Eight’s attempt to change its appeal in respect of last Sunday’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000,” read a statement from Supercars CEO James Warburton.

“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.

“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.

“Supercars Australia respects the right of all teams to appeal the decisions of stewards, 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 racetrack and not in a courtroom.”

The whole saga started 10 laps from the end of the Bathurst 1000, when Whincup made contact with Scott McLaughlin while trying to pass the Kiwi for second place, which in turned sparked a collision between McLaughlin and Garth Tander. All three cars had been in contention to win. 

Whincup was slapped with a 15-second penalty for his part in the drama, which meant he went from crossing the line first to being demoted to 11th. 

If Triple Eight does go ahead with the appeal anyway, and Whincup is classified in eighth, then he will gain back 36 points and be 103 behind teammate Shane van Gisbergen. As it stands he is 139 points behind van Gisbergen.