There’s something going very wrong in British motorsport. The trigger to writing this column is the fallout from Ricky Collard being denied his maiden victory in the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch last Sunday following a thrilling race against three-time champion Ash Sutton. But Collard, whose crime was multiple breaches of track limits, is only part of a worrying bigger picture.
There were six race meetings in the UK last weekend, including three that were headlined by some of our most prestigious series: BTCC at Brands, the British GT Championship at Silverstone, and TCR UK at Croft. Across those three events, there were no fewer than 10 races where the on-the-road winner was given a penalty, and in one case was excluded. In nine of the 10, that resulted in a driver who hadn’t crossed the line first being awarded victory, the exception being Ginetta Juniors at Silverstone, where Freddie Slater was given track-limits penalties in two races, but in one of them had pulled out sufficient gap to still be the winner.
The penalties weren’t all for track limits. Among them were false starts, overtaking behind the safety car, and gaining an advantage by contact with a rival. This column isn’t disputing that any of those penalties were entirely justified and correct, but together they build up to a grim picture.
And let’s put it another way. If you’re a motorsport enthusiast shelling out around £100 (including petrol and food) to take your family for a day out at the track, you deserve to enjoy that day and for what’s happening on track in front of you to be the be all and end all. It’s a massive turn-off when the race you’ve just witnessed has its result changed, just the same as a football fan seeing their team score a magnificent goal, only for officials with VAR monitors to then deliberate for up to five minutes before knowing whether they can celebrate or not.
False starts, overtaking behind the safety car and contact with rivals are arguably indisputable in being deserving of penalties, although in the last-mentioned of those scenarios that’s on the proviso that the officials’ view on the contact is correct – which quite frequently it isn’t.
Breaching track limits too is not a satisfactory way to go racing. Until 2023, this was policed fairly and effectively, particularly on Motorsport Vision circuits including Brands, by sensors positioned on the outside of corners that are triggered when all four wheels go off course. For this year, our governing body Motorsport UK, in all its wisdom, has decided that any part of any wheel going off course constitutes a track-limits breach. In doing so, it has created a rule that is almost impossible for officials to keep abreast of.
OPINION: Why national motorsport's track limits shakeup is deeply flawed
These new rules are slated for introduction in June – midway through the season! – but BTCC organiser TOCA sensibly decided to implement them from its opening round at Donington Park in late April. Not because it necessarily agreed with the regulations, but because it made no sense for a rule change during the course of a season. British GT followed suit by bringing them in last weekend for Silverstone.
Source: Autosport