Stanaway 'caught off guard' by qualifying crash
Supercars
15 Nov
Richie Stanaway the first of three drivers to have near-identical crashes at Turn 8
Stanaway would've been able to rejoin the session had it resumed
Kiwi leaving Grove Racing after Adelaide to join PremiAir Racing
Richie Stanaway has said that his crash in Boost Mobile Qualifying at the VAILO Adelaide 500 caught him off guard due to a change in car balance.
During what would've been the first flying laps of the session, Stanaway became one of the latest victims of the infamous Turn 8 sweeper when he touched the inside wall.
That ricocheted the Penrite Mustang into a heavy collision with the outside concrete wall, with the force of the impact enough to lift all four wheels off the ground momentarily.
Stanaway was able to limp the #26 Ford around to the pit lane as first Cameron Hill and then David Reynolds replicated Stanaway's mistake and had enormous hits with the outside wall.
The clean up required for both Hill and Reynolds' cars, combined with lengthy barrier repairs, meant that the session was ultimately declared after only five minutes of running.
Stanaway will still line up 11th after a bizarre session, whilst teammate and defending VAILO Adelaide 500 champion Matt Payne will feature in tomorrow's Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout having qualified sixth.
The 2023 Bathurst winner explained his version of events after the session had been initially suspended before it was later declared.
"I'm okay, it just caught me a bit by surprise," Stanaway said.
"Just a different balance I had through there, I was surprised at how it caught me off guard, and then seeing the other two make the same mistake after me kind of made a bit more sense.
"It's a tricky one, because no one has really set a proper lap, so I'm not really sure what's going to happen."
"We made a set up change which was to give us a bit more front there, but it still caught me out, it's just disappointing."
The VAILO Adelaide 500 will be Stanaway's last event with Grove Racing before he moves to PremiAir Racing next year alongside James Golding.
A battered and bruised Repco Supercars Championship field will return to the track for Practice 3 at 10:00am local time/10:30am AEDT tomorrow morning.
