Trans-Am

Trans Am crash prompts investigation

Motorsport Australia will establish an investigatory tribunal to look into Sunday's crash-affected Trans Am race at Symmons Plains.

Andrew van Leeuwen

Published: Mar 1, 2023, 8:21 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

- Trans Am Race 1 Sunday-2

The second race of the National Trans Am Series opener was cut short thanks to a nasty rollover on the front straight.

The incident happened when leader Ben Grice slowed with a mechanical failure coming around the final corner complex, before being collected at speed by an unsighted James Simpson.

The contact sent Simpson's car into a spectacular roll, both drivers emerging from the incident unscathed despite both cars being badly damaged.

While the incident itself isn't subject to any action from the governing body, the immediate aftermath will be investigated by a dedicated tribunal.

The issue appears to be the timing of the declaration of the shortened race.

The race technically finished under safety car with James Moffat declared the winner having taken over the lead from Grice.

However there have since been reports from competitors that red flags were shown at some flag points, despite there never being an instruction to do so from race control.

Should that be proven, the result could feasibly be overturned and Grice declared the winner on a count back.

"Motorsport Australia has confirmed it will set up an investigatory tribunal to consider the circumstances surrounding the finish of the National Trans Am Series’ second race at the Shannons SpeedSeries as part of the AWC Race Tasmania event," read a Motorsport Australia statement.

"The category’s race was cut short due to an incident on the main straight, with the race officially finishing under safety car.

"However, since the result was made official, evidence has been presented indicating that red flags were shown at multiple flag points erroneously and seen by a number of drivers.

"The tribunal will now look into why the red flags were shown and if the race should have been declared earlier.

"Motorsport Australia will advise of the outcome of the tribunal in due course."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Yamashita set to miss Super Formula pre-season testing

Next article Ferrari F1’s tifosi expectation a positive pressure, says Vasseur

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

4 h

NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar

Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 4 h

Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026

Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

4 h

Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP

KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP 5 h

KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts