Earlier today WAU co-owner Ryan Walkinshaw publicly accused T8 driver Broc Feeney of over slowing during a safety car to give teammate Shane van Gisbergen an advantage during Race 2 yesterday evening.
Speaking on the Fox Sports broadcast, Walkinshaw insinuated that had Feeney was faster to the safety car line he could have taken the lead of the race, and helped WAU driver Chaz Mostert into second.
Feeney and Mostert were the top two drivers to have stopped when the safety car was called and were running nose-to-tail.
TV footage showed Feeney slowing as he and Mostert approached the site of Jack Le Brocq's crashed car, which had prompted the caution.
As the race transpired Brodie Kostecki, James Courtney and van Gisbergen were able to take their mandatory service after the safety car was out and resume as the top three.
They crossed the line in that order, although van Gisbergen and Feeney were later promoted to second and third when Courtney was stripped of his podium for an earlier driving infringement.
In Walkinshaw's interview he likened the Feeney situation to the DJR Team Penske situation at Bathurst in 2019 when Fabian Coulthard slowed to help give Scott McLaughlin an advantage.
The team was fined $250,000 for its actions.
"It just had a bit of a smell from DJR at Bathurst, it was a bit of a slowdown from Feeney," said Walkinshaw. It looked like he was trying to help Shane out, which is a bit frustrating because he probably lost himself a win and us a podium.
"But is what it is. We’ll go out today and give it a good crack. When Chaz is a bit fired up he normally gets a good result."
At Triple Eight, however, the accusation has left the team baffled.
According to team manager Mark Dutton, the idea that the team would throw away a win for Feeney for the sake of a third place for van Gisbergen makes little sense.
"No. It sounds... we were running two race cars, trying to win with both, but we weren't leading with either," he told Motorsport.com.
"Of course Broc slowed around the crashed car, the incident, as you're meant to. But after that he continued as fast as safe to do so.
"He knew people were pitting and didn't want to get jumped.
"Now there is no reason that he should automatically take the lead, because he wasn't leading before the safety car. Nobody should have got more or less of an advantage.
"But still, Broc was going as fast as he could, because if there'd been a mistake or a slow pitstop, he could have got the lead."
Dutton also confirmed that there had been no formal investigation into the matter – at least as far a Triple Eight was aware.
"This was all news to be until you reporters came and asked the question," he said. "There was zero conversation about it because there's nothing to it."
