Neck injury from Spa 2012 crash sidelines Stanaway from Winton

The issue - believed to be linked to his violent Formula Renault 3.5 crash at Spa back in 2012 - reared its head during Garry Rogers Motorsport's Winton test last week, when Stanaway was forced to cut his running short due to neck pain.

Having come into the weekend confident it would not be a problem, it flared up again during Saturday morning's practice session, which ended with Stanaway in the Turn 6 wall.

He managed to get through qualifying and the race, finishing last after a clash with Simona de Silvestro, but has elected to sit out the rest of the weekend and let enduro driver Chris Pither take over the seat.

"Obviously really disappointed, it wasn't a decision that I wanted to make," said Stanaway.

"I tried to deal with it today, but unfortunately it's too severe an issue to keep going, especially tomorrow with the longer race.

"We've all decided that it's the best thing to do for myself and for the team.

"I'll get an MRI on Monday and find out what's wrong so I can fix it as soon as possible.

"I don't think driving tomorrow will help the situation."

Pither promised to "give it 100% and do my best" in Stanaway's absence.

"It is an unexpected call up to drive the #33 car tomorrow," he said.

"I feel for Richie, he's clearly been battling some neck issues.

"It would have been a hard call for him to make, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

"Obviously I've being thrown into the deep end, having not driven Supercar since Newcastle last year."