Motorsport: Supercars boss James Warburton says Red Bull Racing Australia's Bathurst 1000 appeal 'un-Australian'

news.com.au

15 Oct, 2016 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Jamie Whincup was first across the line at Bathurst but a 15-second penalty for an earlier crash pushed him back to 11th. Photo / Getty Images

Supercars boss James Warburton has slammed the protest that could have robbed Will Davison and Jonathan Webb of this year's Bathurst 1000 as "un-Australian".

The Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) officially crowned the pair Mount Panorama kings after Red Bull Racing Australia's appeal was dismissed.

Hitting out at Red Bull after the team failed to have Jamie Whin-cup's 15-second penalty overturned, Warburton declared the team had "threatened the integrity of the sport" by attempting to win Australia's greatest race in a courtroom.

"Races are won on the racetrack," Warburton said. "And we can't set a precedent that encourages these appeals and protests. A Cinderella story would have been taken away [had the appeal been successful]. For us, this was about defending the integrity of our sport."

Red Bull's appeal to deliver Whincup his fifth Mount Panorama win was shot down on Friday when their Bathurst case was dismissed because of prior "admissions of guilt".

"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," a Supercars statement said. "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 reinvestigated or the charge dropped.

"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's attempt to amend their appeal was rejected by the court."

In another twist, Red Bull on Friday night submitted a new protest to challenge the severity of the fine.

The team are now arguing the 15-second penalty should be reduced to 10 seconds in an appeal that could mean Whincup finishes this year's Bathurst 1000 eighth instead of 11th. It would have an impact on the overall standings, with Kiwi Shane Van Gisbergen, who finished second at Bathurst, holding a 139-point lead over Whincup ahead of next weekend's Gold Coast 600.

Warburton said the right decision had been made.

"This would be the same as the Melbourne Storm appealing the Sharks win because of something like a forward pass," Warburton said. "And to us, this is unacceptable and in fact it would be fair to say it is un-Australian.

"We are taught to accept the umpire's decision and move on and we respect that. They have a right to appeal ... but the groundswell of opinion is that this should have been decided on the track and not in the courtroom."