FREKE QUESTIONS BRITISH GT RULES CONSISTENCY
Century crew wins GT4 race and is then excluded for yellow flag infringement
British GT regular Nathan Freke has questioned the consistency of the penalties applied in the series after he and team-mate Anna Walewska were stripped of their GT4 win at Rockingham last weekend.
Freke and Walewska recovered from a fuel pipe failure early in the meeting and raced from the back of the grid to take the GT4 class win on the road in their Century Motorsport Ginetta G55. However, Walewska was judged to have overtaken under yellow flags early in the race and the pair was excluded.
Freke said: “Where’s the consistency? At Brands Hatch [overtaking under yellows] seemed acceptable behaviour, or a time penalty. Yet at Rockingham it’s exclusion. However, if you decide to overtake before the safety car line, technically still under yellow flag conditions, it’s just a drivethrough. I’m confused at the logic.”
British GT clerk of the course Bernard Cottrell said: “Century appealed the decision, but it was rejected. The rule book has always said cars will be excluded for passing under yellows. We gave Anna the benefit of the doubt during the race as we wanted to review in-car footage post-race to be sure as there’s no coming back from it if you make a snap ruling and just pull a car out of a race.
“Cars penalised for passing before the safety car line are a different scenario, so have different consequences. On the footage we saw the Century car raced toward the green flag and yellows were clearly visible. You have to pass the green flag before you can begin racing again.”
Four cars were excluded from Rockingham. The Team Hard Ginetta of Wilson Thompson/robert Barrable was also excluded for passing under yellows, as was the Tolman Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT3 of David Pattison and Luke Davenport. The GT4 Optimum Ginetta G55 of Graham Johnson/mike Robinson was also thrown out for a clash with the PFL Motorsport Aston Martin GT3.