TEKNO Autosports drivers Michael Patrizi and Lucas DiGrassi will miss the second 300km ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600 race after damage sustained in qualifying earlier today.
Patrizi ended today’s 30-minute qualifying session 22nd after making hefty contact with the wall at Turn 12 when he came across a limping Team BOC Commodore of Jason Bright.
Bright had damaged his car after a substantial kerb impact earlier in the lap and was crawling around the circuit to pit lane with just six minutes remaining in the session.
Patrizi’s car was stranded on the circuit and brought out the fourth red flag of an already interrupted session.
Despite recent niggle between the two, Patrizi was philosophical about today’s incident with Bright.
“He didn’t help the situation but I have to take some of the blame,” He said.
“He (Bright) was stuffing around and going slowly. I made the mistake and it caught me by surprise. He went to the apex, baulked Webby, and I had to hit the brake and the kerb (to avoid them) and that’s what put me in the wall.
“It’s a massive shame for the Tekno crew. And in the end the damage is just too much to repair safely, so we’re out.
“This Tekno crew are amazing and this is really disappointing for them, but that’s the way it is and we will bounce back in Abu Dhabi.”
Patrizi and his ex-Formula 1 driving co-driver Lucas DiGrassi qualified 19th yesterday but strong race pace and some luck in avoiding the race start carnage saw the pair climb through the field to finish 11th.
Patrizi’s team mates Jonathon Webb and Marc Lieb ran in the top five most of the race and ultimately finished second, just 0.5s behind winners Jamie Whincup and Sebastien Bourdais.
Webb qualified third today, behind Whincup and Mark Winterbottom.
Race 23 of the championship commences at 13:40pm local time – stay tuned to BigPond Sport for live updates across the 102 laps and 300km!
