A Kiwi bust-up with major Supercars title ramifications has overshadowed Fabian Coulthard's return to the top step of the podium at Sydney Motorsport Park on Saturday.
A tense and combative race looked like a one-two fight between series leader Scott McLaughlin and reigning champion Shane Van Gisbergen.
Instead, the DJR Team Penske man had a moment of madness, bumping out his Red Bull Holden rival to ruin both their drives.
McLaughlin, who crossed the line second, was served a controversial 15-second penalty that would leave him 10th.
Van Gisbergen, who had driven masterfully to the front, was spun around and would finish 15th.
In the wash-up, Coulthard claimed his fourth race win of the season, ahead of Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup in his banged-up Commodore from the same incident.
The duelling Kiwis looked set for a pit-lane barney, only for McLaughlin to defuse tensions with a hasty apology.
"What can I say, it was an absolute ballsup on my behalf," McLaughlin said.
"Sorry to him and his team. It's not the way I want to do it ... it's not my style."
Van Gisbergen accepted his apology - if not his punishment.
"To his credit, he was straight out apologising. All good. We'll box on," he said.
"The thing that gets me is he only got 15 seconds (penalty) for it but we're up the back but bigger people than me make those decisions.
"It was an awesome battle ... we had really good car speed and I was hoping to battle it out."
The on-track clash allowed the podium finishers, and fourth placed Mark Winterbottom, to all cut the margins at the top of the championship standings.
McLaughlin's previous lead of 129 points over second-placed Whincup is now 78, while third-placed Coulthard is 72 points closer to the front.
Van Gisbergen can take solace in a terrific driving effort - jumping McLaughlin off the line and reeling in race leader Winterbottom inside 11 laps.
He then pulled off an ambitious heist for the lead at a restart caused by Todd Kelly's tyre explosion.
McLaughlin's crude response was to be investigated in a post-race investigation.
Earlier on Saturday, McLaughlin claimed his 12th pole position for the season, locking down the season's pole award with nine races remaining.
He could match Whincup's all-time qualifying record of 13 as soon as Sunday's 200km race in Sydney.
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