Mark Skaife, a five-time Supercars champion, has voiced his frustration regarding driving standards after a significant crash marred the opening race of the weekend in Darwin. The incident unfolded when Ryan Wood’s Mustang suffered an engine failure just as the race was set to restart following an early safety car period. This left several drivers behind him scrambling to react, leading to an unfortunate sequence of events.
Drivers, caught unaware, continued full throttle down the long straight, resulting in Erebus racing’s Jack Le Brocq being thrust into the concrete wall on the left side of the track. The impact was severe, detaching the front-left wheel from Le Brocq’s car and sending it hurling down the track and over the wall into the adjacent drag strip.
Over his team radio, Skaife expressed his disbelief, exclaiming, “How the f–k do you crash on a straight?” His outburst highlighted the absurdity of the situation as drivers struggled to comply with restart rules that prohibit overtaking before crossing the start/finish line—located midway along the 1.1-kilometre main straight.
While Wood moved to the side after his failure, drivers behind were unsure of how to manoeuvre, with some braking or lifting off the throttle to avoid penalties for overtaking before the control line. Skaife condemned the crash, stating, “That crash on the straight is completely ridiculous.” He argued that all drivers should be accelerating during a restart, not braking.
Le Brocq and Wood briefly interacted along the track after the collision, which necessitated a second safety car deployment, following an earlier stoppage due to a first-lap incident involving Jaxon Evans. Wood later acknowledged that his car’s breakdown “wouldn’t have helped” the situation. He also suggested that the race leader, Broc Feeney, had disregarded a pre-race consensus that the leader should accelerate out of the final corner to prevent congestion.
Wood lamented, “If we keep doing the same on the restart, the same results will keep happening,” indicating that the lack of adherence to the agreed strategy led to the chaos. Ultimately, Feeney won the race, followed by Cam Waters and Matt Payne, with local favourite Bryce Fullwood finishing in fourth place. The weekend left many within the racing community questioning the current restart protocols and overall driving standards in Supercars.