‘Completely sefless’ act as C1 driver pushes rival back to pits in Rockingham 24hrs
Citroen C1 Challenge driver Greg Graham has called the actions of his rival James Poulton “completely selfless”, after his car was pushed back to the pits when it had run out of fuel with just minutes to go in the Rockingham 24 Hours race.
The Team Safety Devices car of Graham had battled with Poulton’s DDCW team for over eight hours, but ran empty while he was ahead.
Graham got out of the car “in tears” for having felt like he’d thrown a strong result away, only for Poulton to help his rival back to the pits.
“I looked at the time and there was four minutes to go, I thought if he was still there when I came around again, I’ll drive up behind him and push him,” said Poulton.
“To be honest I’d have gladly taken any penalty to help them out. Yes, we were competing for eighth place, but we were competing for 24 hours. We had mutual respect for each other and I felt it was the right thing to do.”
Graham was told to pit by his team late-on, but gambled in order to stay ahead of the DDCW car.
“I took a gamble and I felt despondent at that point because I thought I’d let everyone down,” he explained.
“He stopped and pushed me without knowing whether his team would be penalised or disqualified and that’s the amazing part for me. He was completely selfless. I can’t thank him enough.”
Poulton was given two points on his license for his actions but was allowed to keep his eighth place, while Team Safety Devices took 11th.