Porsche drama prompts rule change

The opening Porsche race at the Reid Park circuit was marred by a nasty crash for veteran Tony Quinn who suffered a broken leg, ribs and a punctured lung after hitting the wall on the opening lap.

The lengthy recovery meant only eight of the scheduled 17 laps were completed and only the first under green conditions, the race eventually called while the field was under the control of the safety car.

Luke Youlden was classified as the winner ahead of Jackson Walls and Callum Hedge, until Motorsport Australia stewards later disqualified the top three on a technicality.

The disqualification was due to Article 5.12.7 from Motorsport Australia's Circuit Race Standings Regulations which states that, "to be classified as a finisher, an automobile must have completed its last lap in less than twice the time of the winner’s fastest lap time for that race".

Due to a timing quirk the top three were judged to have been too slow.

The farcical disqualification was later overturned on the grounds of force majeure and the top three reinstated.

The rule exists to stop badly damaged cars lapping during races just to be classified, however the Townsville incident highlighted a flaw in the system.

Motorsport.com can reveal that Motorsport Australia will now move to update the rule to avoid complications from safety car intervention in the future.

“Under the regulations as they are currently written, the top three cars did not meet the required lap time as per the Circuit Race Standing Regulations – Article 5.12.7,” a Motorsport Australia spokesperson confirmed.

“While motorsport regulations are written with the best intentions and consider a large number of potential issues that may eventuate, unique circumstances may regularly test these regulations and in this case, such a situation had never previously occurred given the timing and location of the incidents, as well as the safety car deployment.

“Importantly, Motorsport Australia’s National Regulations Advisory Committee (NRAC) has already met to address and correct this and we can confirm a minor change to the regulations will soon be presented to the Australian Motor Racing Commission (AMRC) for approval to prevent a similar incident from happening again.”