Van Gisbergen slams "crap" pit entry penalty

The Triple Eight driver was one of eight drivers to be penalised for running over a line on the entry to the lane.

As a result he had to spend an extra 15 seconds stationary after his second pitstop, which effectively took him out of contention for victory.

"In all honesty, it's crap,” said van Gisbergen, who has lost the points lead to race winner Fabian Coulthard. "The penalties being handed out were ridiculous.

"Crossing the line at pit entry is something that happens at every track, and the process is different on every track, yet now they decide to police it in a way they have never done here before.

“It’s pretty average if you ask me. They'll need to re-watch the race and penalise everyone because otherwise, they'll only be selecting a handful."

Van Gisbergen wasn’t the only contender affected by the penalty, as Scott McLaughlin had been leading the race when he was forced to serve a penalty for the same thing.

“The penalty is one that surprised me, as I’ve never heard of it before and have run the same line for many years here,” he said. “Now we know, and it won’t happen again.”

Craig Lowndes was also heavily affected, having crossed the line first only to be bumped back to 12th after having 15 seconds added to his race time.

“We’ve always been told on the line is in, over the line is out,” said Lowndes. “I want to see a replay to see if it’s true. I know I used the line, I don’t think I was over it.

"If it proves to be wrong, I’m going to be furious. To get that over the radio was pretty gut-wrenching.”

Despite not being penalised, Jamie Whincup echoed the thoughts of his fellow Triple Eight drivers, claiming that running on the line is standard practice at Phillip Island.

“I have been running on the inside of that line for years,” he said. “They can  probably dock me a few race wins, but everyone has been doing it and they never said they were going to police it at all.

“I think it should have been clearer, without a doubt. I am not sure if you can cross that line or if you can’t run more than four garages. I am not really sure of the rule, it hasn’t been discussed.”