BROWNING RUES “UNSPORTSMANLIKE” RIVAL AFTER GB3 TECHNICAL PENALTY
Title race twists with Hitech drivers starting Silverstone races from back of the grid
GB3 title contender Luke Browning has called a rival team “unsportsmanlike” after having to start all races at the back at Silverstone’s recent triple-header and losing his comfortable championship lead.
Browning left Silverstone 11.5 points behind Fortec’s
Joel Granfors after pacesetter Browning and his Hitech GP team-mates lost their qualifying times due to not running a skid block protector.
Its absence was related to the part not being available earlier this season, though it was available at Silverstone. There was no official protest but Motorsport News understands another team – though not Fortec – alerted stewards.
Browning told MN: “It’s literally nothing, there’s no difference between the car in quali and the car now, it’s literally just a skid protector, so it’s a bit of [metal] at the front plank, it’s just daft.
“With everything coming so late it’s difficult to get parts, and when we’ve asked for it in the past they’ve not had it. So for a team to go and protest it, I think if it had been left down the scrutineers it wouldn’t have been done, it’s a bit unsportsmanlike from another team.”
Giles Butterfield, group operations and engineering manager of organiser MotorSport Vision, told MN: “People should have put them back on the cars [when they became available]. There is a mechanism for dealing with such issues in that a team can submit to the championship scrutineer a technical query form, he can give them a dispensation or not to run without that part. That procedure wasn’t followed.”