CARLIN DRIVERS BRAWL AFTER F4 COLLISION
British F4 title contender Petru Florescu was excluded from the Knockhill meeting last weekend after punching his Carlin team-mate Devlin Defrancesco.
The duo were stuck behind third-placed Jamie Caroline in the second race in Scotland and collided across the startline on lap 16.
Defrancesco made a slight mistake coming out of the hairpin, which allowed Florescu to get a run on him on the straight.
But Defrancesco didn’t give him enough room and the pair tangled – spearing Defrancesco heavily into the barriers. Florescu then got out of his car and stormed over to the Canadian, before punching him.
Stewards decided to exclude Florescu from the whole meeting, meaning the Romanian was stripped of his comfortable win in the first race. Defrancesco was given a 10-place grid penalty for causing the collision.
Championship promoter Sam Roach said: “We cannot allow this sort of incident to happen and we have dealt with it firmly.”
Florescu declined to comment when asked by Motorsport News but Defrancesco admitted he was at fault for the crash.
“I don’t want to remember it!” he said. “I made a little mistake and didn’t give him quite enough room.”
When asked if he was surprised by Florescu’s reaction, Defrancesco said: “I wasn’t expecting it.”
Florescu’s title aspirations have taken a massive hit from the expulsion. He went into the weekend with a four-point advantage at the top of the standings but is now sixth and 30 points behind new leader Max Fewtrell.
Defrancesco is now third in the points table, 18 behind team-mate Fewtrell, and also hit out at Caroline’s defensive driving before the crash.
The Fortec driver had been given a 10-second penalty for a false start and was slowing up the rest of the field as the Carlin duo struggled to get past. He was also later handed a 10-place grid penalty for weaving.
“Jamie was weaving around too much and it’s now getting dangerous,” said Defrancesco. “I don’t think he was given the right penalty – it should’ve been a drivethrough.”