Blanchard Racing Team boss Tim Blanchard has labelled the collision between Aaron Love and James Courtney as “unacceptable,” with the drivers offering conflicting versions of events.
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Love swerved into the path of BRT teammate Courtney exiting pit lane at the beginning of Qualifying on Saturday at the Thrifty Sydney 500 – Opening Round.
Courtney’s Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang was tipped into the air and out of qualifying, with Love returning to the garage for running repairs as red flags flew.
Speaking immediately after the session, Blanchard told the broadcast: “We’ve got to have a bit of a chat.
“That stuff is just totally unacceptable. We’ve got to sit down as a team and work out what’s gone wrong there. We can’t be making mistakes like that.”
Speaking as he returned to the garage, Courtney claimed a pre-session agreement was undertaken for the cars to get on the pace to try and get a second flying lap.
“Yesterday was quite tight with the time for getting two laps in, so we agreed to get on with it and try and get out and get the two laps,” the 2010 champion said.
“I was going past him, and obviously he didn’t see me… we’ll go and have a chat now, and see what comes of it.
“It was a big [hit], it plucked the corner out of it, the guys will have a lot of work to do.”
Love, however, claiming during the stoppage that there was no plan for Courtney to pass, saying: “It’s not nice at all, especially when it’s the sister car.
“From our point of view, there was no plan for him to pass me, so I had no idea he was going to pass me.
“We’ll have to review it later on and see why it happened.”
Cam Waters continued his blistering form by claiming provisional pole position.
Waters will be the last car to roll out in the Top Ten Shootout after setting a 1:28.8998s in the second portion of qualifying, and being the only driver to break into the 1:28’s in the session.
This article first appeared on supercars.comand was reproduced with permission.
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