James Nash calls for harsher penalty following Jean-Karl Vernay contact

An upset James Nash has called for a more severe penalty to be applied to Leopard Racing’s Jean-Karl Vernay, after the French driver made contact with the rear of Nash’s SEAT with three laps to go, demoting him from fourth to ninth, which became eighth after Vernay was given a 30-second penalty.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Nash, who was set to take over the championship lead but now is six points behind Gianni Morbidelli.

“I think there were some relatively easy points there. The Golf (of Vernay) shouldn’t be in the position it was in, and when someone’s been on track limit calls all weekend and then does an error like that is just really crazy. But we still got some points, so from a bad position we got something.”

Reflecting on the contact and Vernay’s penalty from the stewards, Nash added:

“It felt like quite a big hit from inside, cos it send me into a half-spin and then nearly into the wall as well. Vernay should have had more than just a drive-through, he should have had more such as points on his licence as well.”