Krenek Motorsport black flag down to diffuser infringement

The Krenek Motorsport SEAT León TCRs were disqualified from the first European Touring Car Cup race at Slovakiaring as race control handed both Christjohannes Schreiber and Petr Fulin a black flag.

The cars looked set to have a 1-2 finish, but it was noticed that the cars had no diffuser by race control, which saw them disqualified from the race with a black flag handed out to both drivers.

The diffuser is part of the car’s homologation form, and it is therefore mandatory to have it fitted at all times. However, the part had started to come off in earlier sessions, which meant the team decided not to fit it in order not to lose a potentially dangerous piece of the car.

As a result, both cars were disqualified and forced to fit the diffuser in order to be allowed to start the second race. Petr Fulin cut through the field to take fourth ahead of Fabio Mota in the Lema Racing 2015-spec SEAT.

Other SEAT-equipped teams reportedly used tape in order to help keep the part in place. It is not clear why the problem manifested itself at Slovakiaring.

On top of that, Schreiber also received a drop of five positions on the grid for next race. The stewards deemed the Swiss guilty of having gone out on track before the pit lane was open in Race 1 and failed to respect the rolling start formation twice.

The penalty will be effective at the Nordschleife, the next round of the FIA European Touring Car Cup.