Nykjaer, Monje and Valente sent to the back of the grid

The championship situation has taken a dramatic twist this weekend, with the times of Nika Racing’s Michel Nykjaer and the two Campos Racing drivers Fernando Monje and Hugo Valente being disallowed after a technical infringement.

Nykjaer had qualified ninth, which would have placed the Dane, who is second in the standings, second on the grid for race two, whilst Valente and Monje had qualified 16th and 21st on the grid respectively.

Their times were disallowed following a technical inspection of their cars, which found that the seat position was not in accordance with Article 6.2 of the technical regulations, which states:

The driver’s seat may be moved back, but not beyond the vertical line defined by the front edge of the original back seat. The limit is constituted by the rearmost point of the driver’s shoulders.

All three drivers will start from the back of the grid for both races as a result of their times being disallowed.

With Nykjaer starting from the back, Yvan Muller’s chance of securing his fourth title this weekend has increased considerably, though with Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini qualifying on provisional pole for race two, the Italian can potentially prevent the title being wrapped up this weekend with a strong result on Sunday.