Photo: TCR Media

Craft-Bamboo drivers blame Mat’o Homola for championship defeat

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Craft-Bamboo Racing drivers James Nash and Pepe Oriola have criticised B3 Racing’s Mat’o Homola for his part in costing both of them their chance at winning the 2016 drivers’ title, with Oriola having the strongest words for the Slovakian, stating “James would have been champion if it wasn’t for Mat’o Homola.”

Pepe Oriola finished third in Macau, but dropped to fourth in the drivers’ championship after heading into the Guia Race with an outside chance at winning the drivers’ title, which narrowly escaped him last year.

“I know how Homola behaves after Malaysia,” said Oriola to TouringCarTimes.

“Maybe he’s paid by someone to ruin championships for Lukoil drivers? He ruined my race over there, losing me 12 points as he was fighting too hard with me, and today it was the same with James. He knows he’s fighting for the championship, so why is he pushing him? Maybe he didn’t do it on purpose. But James was in a good position after a really good start, so James would have been champion if it hadn’t been for Mat’o Homola.”

Nash was less direct about Homola’s part in his championship defeat, in which the Briton finished just 3.5 points behind Leopard Racing’s Stefano Comini

“In hindsight, maybe I should have just let the B3 cars go. It could have changed the whole thing,” said Nash to TouringCarTimes.

“(Homola) tried to drive right around the outside at Lisboa, which was maybe lack of knowledge on his part. I was expecting him to cut across and go up the inside for the next corner, which would have been the sensible move.”

The Slovakian admitted the move was an error on his part, and he’d subsequently apologised for the incident, which saw the race held behind the safety car, and Nash forced to retire from the race with broken suspension.

“I’ve learned you cannot go around the outside around Lisboa,” said Homola to TouringCarTimes. “I’ve spoken to James and apologised. I said sorry because I just wanted to gain the position. I wanted to use (Dusan) Borkovic’s slipstream, and I needed just a small amount of space, but then there was no space. There was no intention for me to play a part in this championship, I just wanted to race my race. It’s disappointing, but it was my lack of experience here in Macau.”