Stefano D’Aste will not take part in the FIA World Touring Car Championship final at Macau because of a penalty he was given during the previous race in Japan. This means that he hands over the 2008 Independents title to his team mate Sergio Hernandez.
“I was given an excessive penalty. I have been cut off all possibilities to take the title,” said D’Aste.
D’Aste was given a five places on the grid penalty plus an extra observation flag from the stewards at the Macau-final because of his incident with Tiago Monteiro at the previous race in Japan.
“Because of the penalty they gave me for this race makes it impossible for me to take any useful results at Macau, a very fast and narrow track. Therefore I will not take part in this race,” said D’Aste.
The drastic decision from the team to withdraw D’Aste was announced today and Proteam Motorsport team owner Valmiro Mattoli was equally upset over the penalty.
“The incident was not intentional and it was our car that sustained the major part of the damage. An independent driver never seek contact with a works driver in a race because any eventual damage would weigh too heavy on the budget of the team,” said Mattoli.
