Abuse sparks exclusion
Production BMW frontrunner William Davison has suffered a blow to his championship challenge following disqualification from the Brands Hatch event last weekend after one of his party was involved in a paddock altercation.
Davison and former champion
Matt Swaffer, who was making a one-off appearance, collided with each other while battling for the lead at Clearways on the last lap in race one.
Swaffer crossed the line first but was later disqualified for “driving in a manner incompatible with general safety”. He claimed that a member of Davison’s party had behaved in an abusive manner towards him after the race. Davison would go on to win the second race of the weekend, before being disqualified from the entire meeting.
John Willcocks, who coordinates the championship for the Project 8 Racing Club, said: “The abuse complaint was investigated by the clerk and stewards, with the use of onboard cameras carried by every car, which confirmed one of Davison’s party was deemed to have contravened MSA regulation C.1.1.9 [abusive language or behaviour, physical assault or threats of physical assault within the area under control of the organising club]. This resulted in the driver’s disqualification from the meeting.
“Project 8 Racing Club prides itself in maintaining close, competitive, clean racing and a friendly paddock atmosphere and will continue to investigate and report all avoidable contact or unwarranted behaviour to the nominated officials.”