In a bizarre piece of offialdom Kyle Mitchell and Zahir Ali were both penalized 30 seconds for overtaking under yellows in race one, the drivers being dragged from their cars as they were about to leave the pit lane to join the grid for race two to report to the stewards.
This was the first time both drivers and teams were aware of any protest having being made and apart from losing points in race one it resulted in them being demoted from second and third on the grid. The finishing positions of the first race determine the starting positions of race two. The driver’s teams immediately gave notice of appeal and the race start was delayed whilst the officials decided what to do. It was eventually agreed that both drivers would start in their original grid positions and race under appeal.
Post race the negotiations went on for several hours and it was decided that the original penalty for race one would stand as would the results of race two. The incident took place when Lemvard spun at turn 11 whilst the corner was under “yellows” due to it is believed Jazeman’s car being towed on the track. Grunwell, Kyle and Zahir arrived at the corner and Grunwell dived to the left of Lemvard whilst Kyle and Zahir took the right hand route. In the process Grunwell ran wide and was forced to slow more then his two rivals who emerged in front. “We were amazed, due to the mitigating circumstances, that neither driver was called to explain their actions and that we were only informed just as the next race was about to start. In the fact Stewards decision is timed ten minutes after the original race two start time!” stated a Eurasia spokesperson. “We feel very hard done by and we hope in future natural justice prevails and that all parties should be allowed to defend themselves.”
