V8 Supercars officials have excluded Scott Pye from the results of five races this season due to a technical infringement with the #16 Dick Johnson Racing Falcon.
Pye’s results from the Castrol Edge Gold Coast 600 and the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400 have been deleted after engine ballast seals were found to have been removed prior to the opening race of the Sydney NRMA 500, without the necessary permission from officials.
Engine ballast seals were introduced by V8 Supercars in May ahead of the Perth 400 in a move to address centre of gravity equivalence.
With Pye’s car last checked at the Bathurst 1000, the points from the subsequent two rounds were deleted.
The exclusion drops Pye from 16th to 19th in the drivers’ championship standings and elevates James Moffat, Tim Slade and Russell Ingall to 16, 17 and 18th respectively.
Speaking to Speedcafe.com, a representative from Dick Johnson Racing (DJR) said the infringement happened as the team prepared for the season finale in Sydney .
“It’s really clear what you can and can’t do in the rules and we’ve made a mistake during the busy preparation to get three cars ready to go to Homebush,” said the DJR representative.
“The victim at the end of the day is Scotty Pye, we’ve really let him down on this one and it’s not good enough.
“We must do a better job. We’re better than this and we have apologised to him as a team.
“Unfortunately the punishment for a team offence here has an impact on the driver, but that’s how it is.”
