A clutch stall on the grid of Race 22 this morning caused a Red Flag restart after a massive crash on start.
The major start-line incident involved Thomas Randle from Tickford and Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner.
The Tickford rookie was in front line of the grid after he qualified with a career-best second place, unfortunately failed to get off the line due to a clutch stall.
It was the unfortunate Brad Jones Racing driver, who smashed into the stalled Tickford car as he accelerated from position 12. It’s reported that the #8 R&J Batteries car hit the #55 Castrol Racing Mustang at an estimated 120km/h after following the slip stream from David Reynolds who has a very fast start, and also clipped the car of Nick Percat.
The race was Red Flagged immediately meaning that cars were under orders to return to pit lane due as the track was now considered unsafe due to debris and fluid leaks from both cars.
The good news is that neither Randle nor Heimgartner appeared hurt as they exited their cars and moved towards the safety vehicle on their own.
“He was certainly going pretty quickly when he hit him,” Brad Jones, Heimgartner’s team owner, said.
“Andre’s okay, which is the important thing… I’d be very surprised if we can get the thing going again.
“It’s really badly damaged… lucky no one is hurt.”
Tickford boss Tim Edwards added: “Unfortunately Andre was blindsided, it’s unfortunate for both of them.
“Thankfully they both got out, they’re both a little bit sore.”
More details at the official Supercars Website.
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