Stefano Comini given fine for free practice accident

Leopard Racing’s Stefano Comini was handed a fine after the stewards found him guilty of having had an accident when yellow flags were out. Jordi Gene’s Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR was still at Villeneuve when the Swiss crashed on his last flying lap, which means he will now have to pay a 1,000€ fine.

“I was given a fine because the yellow flags were out when I crashed,” said Comini to TouringCarTimes. “I guess I will have to be careful with expenditures this month!”

The Swiss went on to explain the accident: “I was still pushing because I was on new tyres and I knew I could improve on my lap. I had the old discs and pads from Spa-Francorchamps, so the brake pedal was a bit longer. I just missed the apex on the left corner and was forced to cut more in the right, went on the astroturf and lost control. It’s a shame I got fined.”

Despite the crash, the car has nothing but a few scratches: “I just ‘baptised’ it, it only has some scratches at the front. The car feels good, we’ll see what we can do in qualifying.”

Comini scored his best result of the year in Belgium last time out, finishing second behind team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay.