Augusto Farfus excluded, Gené and Corthals penalized!

Augusto Farfus was disqualified from the first race of the 2008 WTCC season. The Brazilian driver’s BMW 320si was found to be in violation of technical regulations this weekend in Curitiba, Brazil.

At home, the Brazilian had reached the podium in third position, but his engine hood fasteners were deemed to be in violation of the regulations. The « V » as they are called, were not positioned at all during this first race.

The race stewards nevertheless admitted that it was just a simple mistake. Therefore, no sanction was imposed, except for the loss of the 6 points recorded.

With this exclusion, Gabriele Tarquini gains a place, allowing him to tie on points in the championship with Yvan Muller. Andy Priaulx also gains a position and is now third in the championship, one point behind.

Jordi Gene and Pierre-Yves Corthals have also both been penalized by 30 seconds for infractions committed during race 2.

Gene, on Seat, had finished seventh, but was penalized for nudging the Chevrolet driver Alain Menu just after the start. After the penalty, he finished this race in 14th place.

On his part, Corthals hit Sergio Hernandez on the last lap. The two men were fighting for victory in the independents’ trophy. It is the Belgian Corthals who finally wins, but after a penalty, the victory is awarded to Olivier Tielemans.