What triggered Stanaway’s fast crash
Richie Stanaway suffered fuel pump failure before Race 9
Penrite Ford was misfiring before being hit by Aaron Love
Love had no chance to miss Stanaway Mustang
A fuel pump failure was behind Richie Stanaway’s Saturday crash in Perth, which cost the Penrite Racing driver key ground in the championship.
Stanaway qualified 11th for Saturday’s Race 9, but his race was effectively ended just three laps in after a high-speed crash.
The #26 Penrite Ford was pitched into the old pit straight wall by the trailing Aaron Love, with Stanaway forced into the garage.
After the race, Stanaway told a team video that the car suffered a fuel pump failure on the way to the grid, leading to engine misfires. A misfire in front of Love, who had nowhere to go, ultimately ended the Bathurst winner’s day.
Earlier, Stanaway was caught in a three-wide off the line with Nick Percat and Brodie Kostecki, with the latter forced off the road and into a painful 53-lap stint.
Stanaway was fourth in the points after New Zealand, but dropped behind Nick Percat, teammate Matt Payne and Andre Heimgartner.
In a team video posted to Penrite Racing's social accounts, Stanaway said: "Unfortunately a tough day at the office for Car #26.
"We had a fuel pump failure on the way to the grid and we weren't able to rectify it, so we were falling down the order with the engine misfiring.
"And then unfortunately it just misfired at a bad time exiting the last corner with a car right behind me and it turned me into the wall and it damaged the car a fair bit.
"Fortunately we managed to get out and circulate again at the end of the race to get some points so it doesn't register as a DNF but really tough day for us.
“So, we have really just got to try to keep the spirits high overnight and try to bounce back tomorrow.”
Teammate Matt Payne started and finished eighth. However, Penrite Racing dropped behind Ford rivals Walkinshaw Andretti United in the teams’ points, with Chaz Mostert winning the race.
"I got a really good start and then sort of made probably a few bad decisions, we got boxed out a little bit,” Payne said in a team video.
"We came home P8 which is not bad, good points for us, but still I think I know what direction we need to head in for the race tomorrow.
"We'll see if we can start a little bit higher up in qualifying and put ourselves in a little bit better of a spot heading into the race and make some changes and have a bit more speed.
"So yeah, good points today but you always want more."
Supercars will return to the track on Sunday for the short Practice 3 at 9:40am AWST/11:40am AEST, followed by knockout Boost Mobile Qualifying at 12:00pm AWST/2:00pm AEST.
The second 55-lap race of the weekend, Race 10, will commence at 3:45pm AWST/5:45pm AEST. International viewers can follow all the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint action on Superview.
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