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The Gold Coast 500 has been stopped in dramatic scenes after a massive 10-car pile up saw drivers rush to help Macauley Jones as his car caught fire.
James Golding was forced to left go of his steering wheel and brace for impact as his Subway Commodore bounced off a kerb and slammed into a tyre bundle before spinning out of control.
Left facing the wrong way, Golding was seen crossing his arms over his chest as a number of vehicles slammed into his car.
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Nick Percat said he did everything he could to avoid crashing directly into Golding’s driver’s side door.
With the crash happening in the opening laps of race two, the shocking collision left many rivals with nowhere to go.
“There are cars everywhere!” commentator Mark Skaife said.
“There’s got to be 10 cars in there!”
“It’s a horrible moment for James Golding, and then all this lot have nowhere to go,” commentator Neil Crompton added.
“They are caught up in the middle of a massive accident.
“They are doing 150km/h and they drive smack bang into the middle of a gigantic mess!”
Golding’s impact with the tyre bundle pushed the barrier into Thomas Randle and from there drivers arrived “one after the other after the other”.
Macauley Jones’ car caught fire on crash impact as he quickly exited the vehicle as Broc Feeney and Golding came to his immediate aid.
James Courtney managed to pull up as he collided with Golding, but was hit heavily from behind as a result.
“I think that’s why we as drivers lobby so hard to try (and) get rid of tyre bundles as I think that’s what caused it all,” Courtney said after nursing his damaged Tickford car to the pits.
“I tried to stop and wasn’t too bad with the initial impact but just got cleaned up from the rear.
“It’s hugely disappointing.”
Percat, Tim Slade, Jack le Brocq, Mark Winterbottom, Anton de Pasquale and Lee Holdsworth were also caught up in the drama.
“There was cr*p going on everywhere,” Holdsworth said.
“I’m OK, it was a pretty big impact and the fire extinguisher going off isn’t a good sign,” Jones said, after clearing medical.
“All I could see was the back of Nick (Percat) and we were left with nowhere to go. He hit him and I hit him up the ar*e.”
Percat, like Courtney, was also critical of the use of the tyre bundles.
“To be up on two wheels through the chicane … when I landed, I got a bit of a fright because I didn’t want to hit (Golding) in the driver’s door and injure him. So I did my best to get right and hit him in the front wheel,” he said.
“We’re a bit over tyre bundles. Obviously (Golding) shouldn’t pay a price like that because we use old rubbish tyres.
“Disappointing that in this day and age we use a used tyre rubbish bin and write off six cars.”
The race was red flagged as clean up crews and medics rushed to the crash scene.
“There’s an enormous amount of damage,” Crompton said.
“That was a shocker.
“The Courtney car, it was lucky that thing didn’t end up on its roof!”
Tickford team principal Tim Edwards, who had two vehicles caught up in the crash, was left speechless.
“It’s unbelievable getting caught up in someone else’s accident.”
Golding and Jones were taken for medical checks, with both shaken but passing their tests.
Series champion Shane van Gisbergen, who started on pole, avoided the drama out in front, behind race leader Will Davison.
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