Rob Austin apologises for manipulating the third race grid

Rob Austin took pole position for the third race of the day at Brands Hatch yesterday, with the top ten reversed after a draw made by series director Alan Gow, which was after a second draw had taken place when Rob Austin had originally, and deliberately, drawn his own number for the original draw.

The grid for the third race of the day is based on the result of race two, with the top six to ten reversed based on the outcome of a random draw made after the second race. Since last season, it’s fallen to the driver who has the most to gain from the draw, the tenth placed finisher from race two, to make the draw, and on this occasion it was Rob Austin, who appeared to deliberately aim for the #10 ball and ensure he grabbed pole position for the last race of the day.

When Austin was challenged, he admitted his guilt, and Alan Gow redrew the grid again, but the outcome was no different when the series boss also drew the #10 ball.

“I figure when I got caught, I could deny it and say it was an accident or coincidence, but the problem is I’m not very good at deception of any kind, and that’s why I was caught out,” said Austin to TouringCarTimes. “At the end of the day, I don’t feel good about it, it doesn’t portray me very well, it’s not fair on the fans, it’s not good for the championship, and it really doesn’t sit well with me what I did.”

The 34-year-old was apologetic for his behaviour, and received no penalty from the officials, with the action effectively being remedied with the redraw. Austin was ultimately unable to convert pole to victory as he was caught and passed by the Honda Civic Type-R of Matt Neal, but would go on to finish fifth and race three and currently sits 12th in the drivers’ standings.

“I’ve watched a number of other drivers do that, I didn’t look very deliberately but you sort of see it there, they put that nice window in the bowl, they put it nice and high up so you can see. I hope everyone can see the amount of work we put into this championship and see why I did it, but at the end I can only apologise, I’m not proud that I did it.”