Sunday, October 2, 2011

BREAKING NEWS: WRC FRANCE - PETTER SOLBERG EXCLUDED

Petter Solberg has been stripped of his third place on Rallye de France and excluded from the results altogether after his Citroen DS3 was found to be under the regulation minimum weight for a World Rally Car.


Event Stewards, including former World Champion co-driver Robert Reid, made the decision this evening after considering a report from the FIA technical delegate following a weight check carried out after the event closing Haguenau Power Stage.

Petter’s car, run by Citroen’s semi-works PH Sport outfit, was weighed three times and on each occasion registered 1196kg, four kilogrammes under the regulation minimum 1200kg.

Representatives of the Petter Solberg team were given the opportunity to explain the discrepancy but after deliberation the Stewards decided to exclude the car from the results.

Solberg’s team elected not to appeal the decision, which means all the drivers that finished behind Petter in the classification move up one place. The most significant beneficiary is Ford team leader Mikko Hirvonen, who collects three extra drivers’ championship points and pulls level at the top of the table with his championship rival Sebastien Loeb.

A representative of the Petter Solberg team declined to comment on the exclusion.

Source: WRC.COM