Jean-Karl Vernay critical of inconsistent stewards’ decisions in TCR

Leopard Racing’s Jean-Karl Vernay has criticized the stewards’ behaviour on Saturday, after having three laps deleted, with one restored in qualifying, and then a drive-through penalty handed to him after an incident with Craft-Bamboo Racing’s James Nash late in the race.

Vernay believes the stewards have been selective in the approach to lap deletion throughout the day, and also that so far he’s not seen penalties handed to others for contact with him during the opening two races of the season in Bahrain and Estoril.

“In qualifying the performance was really good, but then they cancelled my lap time for no reason,” said an aggrieved Vernay to TouringCarTimes. “They cancelled my best lap time as I went four wheels outside while I was being blocked on purpose on my qualifying lap.”

In the race, Vernay quickly progressed from ninth on the grid to fifth, before becoming stuck behind James Nash’s Craft-Bamboo SEAT for the bulk of the race.

“The race was perfect,” explained Vernay. “James was really slow at the end and was braking a lot earlier than usual. The battle before I pushed him was really fair, but I locked the wheel and hit him. There was no way to avoid the contact, but I think the penalty was really severe,” he added.

“In five races, I’ve been contacted three times. In Bahrain I was clearly pushed out of the race, and two times I’ve lost the rear bumper and no one’s had a warning or penalty, then when I pushed James they give me a 30-seconds. It seems the regulations are different for everybody, for example, two laps after the start, Gianni (Morbidelli) pushed me on the straight, I went on the grass and nearly crashed and nothing, I don’t think that’s fair.”