Drivers positive towards new penalty lane

The Scandinavian Touring Car Championship has introduced a penalty lane where drivers, if penalized, have to drive through a chicane made of cones instead of a drive through in the pit lane. The system was first introduced at Jyllandsringen where a penalty round corresponded to about six extra seconds to a normal lap.

STCC has introduced the penalty lane in order to reduce the gap in the grade of penalties.
“The gap between getting a observation flag and a drive through is rather steep and that is why we have decided to introduce this type of penalty,” said Johnny Haraldsson, Technical Director of STCC, to TouringCarTimes.

However it is not clear whether all tracks on the STCC calendar are going to use this type of penalty.
“The goal is to have it on all tracks, but it is not clear yet if we are able to introduce it everywhere this season. We are going to use it on the tracks where we along with SBF [Swedish Motorsport Federation] and the drivers can find places for the lane in a safe way,” said Haraldsson.

The initial response of the drivers has mainly been positive.
“I think it works well. The lane is perhaps a bit tight and the small cones are hard to see from the car, but overall I think it is a good idea,” said Colin Turkington.

All drivers tested the penalty lane during testing and the best times were about eight to nine seconds extra to a normal lap.
“I think it is a good concept. You get somewhat of a bad exit for the rest of the long straight, but it is alright,” said Tommy Rustad.

If the drivers hit the cones during the penalty round, they have to complete one more round through the penalty lane.