Disqualification in IMSA: front skid wear was less than millimetre too much
General
- Toby McLuskie
The revelry was followed by deception. Porsche Penske Sunday to have won the race in IMSA (the American counterpart of the World Endurance Championship), but disqualification followed after the technical inspection. This was because the front skid wear of the car was slightly less than a millimetre outside the legal tolerance.
The Porsche Penske team reacted in a statement outraged by the penalty for car. The team has announced it will collect all relevant data and pursue all appeal options.
Victory for BMW
The Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet seemed to have grabbed a late victory at Watkins Glen. Only six minutes before the six-hour race time expired, the team passed the BMW of Nick Yelloly and Connor De Phillippi. This pair thus got the win in the end. Cadillac of Pipo Derani, Alex Sims and Jack Aitken was second, ahead of Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist in the MSR Acura. The JDC Miller MotorSports car driven by Mike Rockenfeller and Dutchman Tijmen van der Helm finished fourth, one place ahead of the Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande.
It was clearly not Penske Motorsport's weekend. The American team, led by motorsport legend Roger Penske, had already received a record-breaking penalty in Formula E on Saturday. Namely, the team had placed a scanning device at the beginning of the pitlane, which allowed it to read the serial numbers of competitors' tyres. This provided valuable information. However, it was not allowed to place such a scanner.