Pepe Oriola backs away from “illegal” Opel and Alfas claim

Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola has distanced himself from comments he made yesterday, when he claimed the Alfa Romeo Giulietta and Opel Astra TCRs were “illegal”, after a difficult first race at the Salzburgring.

The Spaniard’s claims about the cars were further complicated when his team then lodged a formal protest against the Opels and Alfa Romeos later that evening, questioning the technical compliance of the two manufacturer’s turbochargers.

“I would like to clarify that my comments yesterday are not related to the protest lodged by Craft-Bamboo,” said Oriola to TouringCarTimes.

“I made my comments right after Race 1, while my team presented their protest in the evening, after the second race had taken place.”

“I would like to apologise for my comments after Race 1, as I didn’t mean to say that the Alfa Romeos and the Opels were illegal. I had just finished the race and was feeling frustrated for not being able to compete with them because of their superior top speed.

“Obviously, I’m not a steward, so I cannot assess the legality of the cars. I acknowledge my choice of words was very poor, having spoken in the heat of the moment. I fully retract my words and would like to apologise to Opel Sport, Romeo Ferraris (Alfa Romeo) and the TCR organisation.”

Craft-Bamboo Racing officially launched a protest about the legality of the two manufacturers’ turbos later that evening, which was rejected by the stewards, but the team has signalled they intend to pursue the matter via appeal.