Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Ford Mustangs in pit lane at the Repco Bathurst 1000. Image: Mark Horsburgh
The two teams had both cars pinged for infringements during qualifying on Friday.
The #88 and #888 Ford Mustangs as well as the #4 and #10 Chevrolet Camaros had their control tyres moved into the team’s pit bay before the car came to a stop in its pit bay.
Representatives for the two teams said they were unaware of the rule being amended in the further supplementary regulations before the event.
Rule D17.1.22.4 of the Supercars operations manual states: “From the commencement of any VCS qualifying Session, it will be permitted to move the next ongoing set of Control Tyres into the Teams’ Pit Bay.”
For the Bathurst 1000, rule D17.1.22.4 was updated to read: “From the commencement of any VCS qualifying Session, it will only be permitted to move the next ongoing set of Control Tyres into the Teams’ Pit Bay when the Car has come to a stop in its Pit Bay.”
Supercars said that the rule was changed in the further supplementary regulations for the event for reasons of safety in the pit lane.
For the infringements, each car was fined $1500 and 30 teams’ championship points.
The total sum of Triple Eight’s points penalty drops them a further 60 points adrift of Grove Racing, putting them 319 points in arrears of the lead.
The penalty has turned a 97-point deficit from Matt Stone Racing to Brad Jones Racing into a 157-point gap.
Stewards said the points penalty and fine were consistent with previous safety-related procedural breaches in pit lane.
Supercars continues on Saturday with Practice 5 at 10:05am followed by Practice 6 at 1:10pm AEDT.
The Top 10 Shootout is scheduled for 5:05pm AEDT.