The Ryan Wood and Jack Le Broq saga continues a day later.
A judicial in-car camera screenshot from Wood’s car of Friday’s incident with Le Broq was shared online. Wood made contact with Le Broq, resulting in the Erebus Motorsport driver bouncing off the exit wall of Turn 4 and making heavy contact with the inside wall, leaving the Erebus team with an enormous repair.
The post containing the image was subsequently deleted after Supercars reportedly threatened to penalise a driver if the post containing the screenshot wasn’t taken down.
McLaughlin posted on social media that he disagreed with Wood’s penalty after the opening lap incident on Friday in Melbourne.
Shane Van Gisbergen replied with the controversial in-car screenshot from Wood’s Mustang, captioned “Brother. That call is a shocker.”
Driving Standards Advisor Craig Baird also weighed in, coming to the defence of Erebus and Supercars, replying with a screenshot showing the moment Wood made contact with Le Broq with a caption, “Enough said.”
The in-car screenshot was then shared by podcast Apex Hunters United’s social media platforms. The podcast is co-founded by Van Gisbergen and hosted by Scott Pye, with co-host Elliot Barbour, known for his Trans Am racing.
It’s understood that Wood shared the screenshot in a private message with friend and fellow Kiwi Van Gisbergen, not expecting the image to go any further than their private messages.
The Apex Hunter’s United post read, ” Wood penalty was BS… A penalty based on the outcome, not the action. We have seen worse in all of the races [so far this season]. Did Barry’s radio comment force the hands of the stewards? Let’s bet the drivers are confused!”
Erebus Motorsport CEO Barry Ryan’s radio transmission after the crash was said in the heat of the moment, directly after the incident. His comments aired on the TV broadcast.
“Supercars can pay for this one. This is going to Bairdo (Driving Standards Advisor), this cheque,” said Barry
The social media posts in question were later removed. New posts by Apex Hunters United gave insight into why the controversial posts were deleted and added an accusation involving Supercars.
“Supercars threatened a driver with a penalty if we didn’t remove our last post,” said AHU.
“We are honest and transparent but we don’t want to give a driver a penalty over a social media post. For this reason, the post has been deleted.
“We do, however, hope this also highlights one of the issues with not allowing opinions surrounding the sport, particularly opinions that don’t align with theirs.
“Had this been reversed, Supercars would release the vision and bury a team or driver. Supercars, release the vision and let the fans decide. Play on.”
To note, Supercars do not issue penalties for Supercar Championship rounds; Motorsport Australia issues them.
It’s been a long-standing rule in the Championship and other series not to share judicial in-car footage online, and drivers have been penalised for publishing such footage in the past. McLaughlin himself was fined $5000 back in 2013.
The rules on sharing such footage online are even stricter, given that the event is being held at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, an F1 World Championship event. Supercars themselves are not able to share any footage of this weekend’s race proceedings as F1 owns the rights and forbids usage.
With the circumstances involved of the in-car screenshots being posted by third parties, it’s unclear whether Wood or Walkinshaw Andretti would have been summoned to the stewards or penalised in any way.
Although AHU took down the judicial in-car screenshot, it still appears on social media, seemingly with some fans having saved the image or screenshotting the post before it was taken down.
Header Image: Fox Sports
