The dramatic battle for the lead in this year’s Bathurst 12 Hour race ended prematurely when Shane van Gisbergen crashed out of second place…and his team mate wasn’t happy about it.
The Ferrari of Toni Vilander/Jamie Whincup/Craig Lowndes battled with the Mercedes of Shane van Gisbergen/Maro Engel/Craig Baird for much of the race. At one point there was even a bizarre incident when Baird spun Whincup off before a safety car restart!
Hard to explain this one… 🤔 #B12HR pic.twitter.com/8FCnYmG7l6
— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 4, 2017
It’s an endurance race though, and despite the Ferrari being spun off and the Mercedes getting penalised for the crash, as the race went on they fought their way back up to fight each other for the lead once more. With 40 minutes to go Whincup put a ballsy pass on van Gisbergen to take the lead.
INSANE!! 😲😱 #B12HR pic.twitter.com/8tiNVp2yyz
— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 5, 2017
The Ferrari had been pretty much the car to beat for the whole event and began to edge away. Desperate to stay in touch van Gisbergen was pushing hard. Unfortunately for this backmarker, he pushed a little too hard.
SAFETY CAR 🚨 Did this incident just upset @shanevg97‘s chances? #B12HR pic.twitter.com/rP4yWZ6XNL
— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 5, 2017
He was obviously given a penalty for the incident but before he could even be told, with just 15 minutes of the race to go, this happened.
Can you believe it?! #B12HR pic.twitter.com/A25R6gjfNj
— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 5, 2017
He tried to return to the pits but the car was too damaged, and they were out. All that time and effort for nothing with just a few laps to go. Any driver would be understandably gutted, but van Gisbergens team mate Maro Engel was Brazil-2008-Ferrari-mechanic levels of angry.
The reactions… 😡😱 #B12HR pic.twitter.com/D6c9ShmmuX
— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 5, 2017
Still, at least he went off to the trailer to cool down before he said anything he’d regret – oh no, wait.
A very unhappy @MaroEngel with @shanevg97. #B12HR pic.twitter.com/yxMq9MfFJ6
— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 5, 2017
Ouch. While it’s refreshing to see a driver being open and honest, openly blaming your team mate on live TV isn’t the coolest thing to do. Especially when van Gisbergen is a big enough person to admit his own mistakes.
.@shanevg97 offers his apologies for his late race incidents. #B12HR pic.twitter.com/l6JGMP84E9
— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 5, 2017
Awkward much? It’s easy to lash out in the heat of the moment though, and Engel later took to Twitter to make a public apology.
I’m a great believer in our team, he’s a great driver and I’ve apologised to Shane for my heat of the moment comments.
— Maro Engel (@MaroEngel) February 5, 2017
Awww, isn’t that nice.
