The International Court of Appeal rejected Ferrari’s attempt to revise the result of the World Endurance Championship’s Six Hours of Spa.
The stewards of the May event dismissed Ferrari’s original protest against their decision to resume the interrupted race for its full remaining duration. In their explanation, they pointed out decisions of the stewards are not subject to appeal.
Following submissions in a hearing today from Ferrari, its rivals JOTA Porsche and Penske Porsche, and the FIA, the ICA upheld the stewards’ verdict that the International Sporting Code does not allow protests against decisions of the stewards.
Ferrari’s original protest was brought “against the decision of the stewards number 71 and against the provisional classification.” Document 71 stated the race would be resumed for one hour and 44 minutes following its suspension of almost two hours for barrier repairs following a crash.
In its conclusions the court noted: “The appellant confirmed before the stewards that ‘the protest is [lodged] against the decision of the stewards number 71 and consequently against the provisional classification.”
“After having carefully reviewed articles 13.2.1 and 13.7 of the code, the court finds that a decision of the stewards cannot be protested.”
Ferrari argued that the extension of the race meant it ran to a duration of seven hours and 44 minutes, and that its cars were disadvantaged because the chequered flag did not fall at the six-hour mark, when they were in a more competitive position.
In its defence, the FIA representatives stated that “when a race is interrupted, the red flag period cannot be considered as part of the race duration” and that “as no official report indicates anything more than a six hours duration of the race, the appellant cannot claim that the race lasted seven hours and 44 minutes.” It also pointed out the WEC stewards had been given the power to amend the race time following the 2013 Fuji round which was badly affected by rain and ran entirely behind the Safety Car.
The hearing was relocated from Paris to Geneva to avoid a clash with the Paralympic Games. WEC race director Eduardo Freitas attended via videoconference.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
World Endurance Championship
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…